Tibet

Li Ye also left Hehuang and returned to Hexi. After reuniting with his family in Zhangye, Li Ye immediately set off eastward. Under the protection of three thousand personal cavalry, the army returned to Jincheng County in a mighty manner.

Twenty days later, in mid-April, Li Ye returned to Jincheng County.

As soon as he returned to Jincheng County, Li Ye received news that the Supreme Emperor was seriously ill.

Last year, Gao Lishi told him that the Emperor was in poor health and that it would take another year or two at most. Li Ye estimated that there would be no news until the end of the year at the earliest. Unexpectedly, he fell seriously ill in the spring.

This is undoubtedly important information. It is an opportunity for Li Heng, Li Lin and Li Ye. Li Heng can openly depose the emperor's brother and no longer have to worry about his father saying that his position is unfair.

Li Lin could ascend the throne as emperor with the imperial edict and jade seal left by his father.

For Li Ye, he finally had the opportunity to send troops to seize the rich land of Bashu.

In the meeting hall of Jiedu Mansion, Li Ye summoned more than a dozen important officials and generals. Everyone stood in front of the sand table and listened to Qi King Li Ye describe his next opportunity.

"The news from Chengdu is that the Emperor is on his deathbed. Time is running out. Once the news of the Emperor's death reaches Chang'an, the Emperor will immediately announce the dethronement of the Emperor's brother and declare him a traitor. This is what we If there is an opportunity to send troops, we must seize the opportunity to send troops to Bashu before the imperial court, so we are starting to prepare now, including food, materials, etc., to start transporting to Xingzhou, and the army must also march to Xingzhou, hiding as much as possible."

Although the Helong Jiedu Mansion has all moved out of Hanzhong, according to the previous agreement with the court, they retained a stronghold in Hanzhong, which was Xingzhou. They appointed all the officials in Xingzhou and had a thousand troops stationed there.

Li Mi pointed at the Lizhou Road south of Xingzhou with a wooden pole: "Taking the Jinniu Road from Xingzhou to the south, you must first pass through Lizhou, and then go to Jianmen Pass in Bashu, but Lizhou belongs to the imperial court and has three thousand troops stationed there. , How does His Highness plan to deal with it?"

Li Ye nodded, "Lizhou is indeed a stumbling block, but the deputy commander of Lizhou, Qiu Daocheng, is from Qinzhou, and his parents and family are all in Qinzhou. We can start with Qiu Daocheng and let Qiu Daocheng become the commander. In this way , the troops stationed in Lizhou are actually our people."

"good idea!"

Li Mi nodded, "Then we have to free up the position first!"

Liu Yan pondered for a moment and said, "Has Qiu Daocheng contacted His Highness beforehand?"

Li Ye smiled and nodded, "The Chengji Qiu family is one of the three wealthy families in Qinzhou. It was Xin Yunjing who led me. I met their head Qiu Wenzhu, who is Qiu Daocheng's father. Qiu Wenzhu has clearly stated his position to me. His son Qiu Chengdao is willing to be loyal to me, so Qiu Chengdao’s problem is not big, the key is to prepare the position first.”

At this point, Li Ye said again: "Thirty thousand shi of grain will be transferred to Xingzhou, as well as a large amount of military supplies, and all the camels will go south."

"What about the army?" Bai Xiaode asked.

Since he came to participate in the discussion, he must send his army. Li Ye nodded, "General Bai will lead the 30,000 Anbeiting Army to leave first. We will set off tomorrow and rush to Xingzhou as quickly as possible. I will lead it myself." Eighty thousand troops came to support.”

"I humbly obey my orders!"

Bai Xiaode clasped his fists and saluted, and he resigned first. Li Ye discussed with Li Mi and others the arrangements for officials after taking over Bashu. Once Bashu was taken over, Li Ye would cut off all ties between the court and Bashu. This time he would not There will be too much chatter with the court and will not give the court any chance.

Lizhou is today's Guangyuan, Sichuan. The famous Jinniu Road runs through the entire territory. In fact, all the strategic canyon roads in the medieval period were basically natural channels washed out by rivers. The same is true for the Jinniu Road, which was formed by using the Jialing River Valley. .

The strategic position of Lizhou is particularly important. Currently, the imperial court has stationed 3,000 elite troops in Lizhou. The commander-in-chief, Wang Chen, is a member of Yu Chaoen. He is also relatively mediocre, lustful and drunk. Most of the time, the army is controlled by the deputy general Qiu Chengdao. hands.

But Wang Chen was not a fool. He also appointed two close generals to control part of the army for him and monitor Qiu Chengdao.

This morning, something happened to Wang Chen. He slipped and fell into the Jialing River after being drunk in the middle of the night last night. Even his body was not found. Deputy General Qiu Chengdao temporarily took over the position of commander, and at the same time sent people to the court to report.

Chang'an, Yu Chao'en's Mansion, a gift giver came to the door. It was very common in Yu Chao'en's Mansion. There was an endless stream of people coming to give gifts every day, usually asking for an official position.

The butler came out as usual and took the gift list. He opened the gift list and glanced at it, and was shocked. He saw ten thousand taels of silver.

This is a great gift! He stepped forward and opened the box and took a look. It was full of silver.

"Please come in and talk!"

The middle-aged man followed the housekeeper into the outhouse. The housekeeper asked him to sit down and asked, "If you need anything, please tell me first and I will report it to Sima."

"My master is Qiu Daocheng, the deputy military envoy of Lizhou. Because the envoy accidentally fell into the river and died, can you please ask Yu Sima to give my master this opportunity for promotion?"

The butler nodded, "I understand. Just wait a moment and I'll report it to the master!"

The housekeeper hurried to the back house, where Yu Chaoen was having dinner. When the housekeeper reported that someone had sent ten thousand taels of silver, he was immediately overjoyed and asked quickly: "Who sent the money?"

"It's Qiu Daocheng, the deputy military envoy of Lizhou!"

Yu Chaoen thought for a moment and seemed to have an impression that he was one of Guo Ziyi's subordinates. He frowned and said, "How can a small deputy military envoy get ten thousand taels of silver?"

"Master, I guess he comes from a well-off family!"

Yu Chaoen was right when he thought about it. This must have been paid for by his family. He nodded and said, "Does he want to benefit from the position of chief military envoy of the state?"

Yu Chaoen just received the news this afternoon that Wang Chen, the Lizhou military envoy, fell into the river and drowned after being drunk. Before he could decide who to take over, the gift giver came to his door.

But this Qiu Daocheng belongs to Guo Ziyi! You should beg Guo Ziyi, how can you ask for it on your own head.

But after a second thought, Yu Chaoen understood that it was useless to beg Guo Ziyi. He had to beg himself to get the position.

He chuckled, "You should have begged me earlier! Okay, take the money and tell his family that the appointment letter from the Generalissimo's Palace will be issued tomorrow, so he can prepare to take over!"

At present, the military power is still in the hands of the Grand Marshal of the World Army. In the past, the Grand Marshal was Prince Li Yu. Now the Grand Marshal is King Zhao Li Xi, and the Deputy Marshal is Li Guangbi. However, the real power to appoint military generals and military positions is in the hands of Yu Chaoen. , even Li Fuguo is not as good as Yu Chaoen in this aspect. Li Fuguo's real power lies more in government affairs.

The next day, the generalissimo issued a letter of appointment, appointing Qiu Dao to be the military envoy of Lizhou, commanding three thousand troops.

At the same time, a large amount of food supplies arrived in Xingzhou. Bai Xiaode led 30,000 people to Xingzhou secretly and settled in Mingshui County, a small county in the north. This is a small county in the mountains and is very remote. Here, the news won't get out.