Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 174: Purple Palace
“Is this Chang’an?”

“Why does this street seem to have no end?”

"Okay, stop looking around and don't forget what we are here to do."

Chang'an, as the heart of the Tang Dynasty, was still extremely prosperous even though the Tang Dynasty at that time had long lost the glory of Zhenguan and Kaiyuan periods.

For Chen Ying and other country boys who had only seen the biggest city in their lives, the prosperous Chang'an almost blinded their eyes and made them linger.

They walked into Chang'an from the Jinguan Gate and were shocked by the street that was nearly a hundred steps wide.

As they gradually approached the West Market, merchants from "all over the world" appeared on the streets.

Their clothes were colorful, like flowing rainbows, covering the long street leading to the imperial city.

In front of the Xishifang gate, an unknown fragrance wafted in the air, and the gorgeous Hu Ji in the distance made the group of country boys open their eyes wide.

Silla maids, Kunlun slaves, Bodhisattva barbarians...

These existences that they learned about in the Wuquan classroom now appeared vividly before their eyes.

In restaurants, taverns, brothels and prostitutes, her graceful figure attracted all their attention.

Occasionally, when nobles came in and out of the West Market, they would often see pretty Silla maids holding flower baskets and walking beside the sedan chair with their skirts swaying, leaving a faint fragrance as they passed by Chen Ying and the others.

"The women in Chang'an are white. No wonder the governor has never been married. He must look down on the women in Longxi."

A light cavalryman took a deep breath of the fragrance left by the Silla maid, and while savoring it, he discussed the emotional problems of his own governor.

"What a joke! Do you think you can discuss the position of governor?"

Chen Ying slapped him, and Qingqi quickly smiled and said, "I was just blinded..."

"Haha, there's nothing that can't be discussed about the governor!"

Suddenly, a sturdy man in his early thirties walked towards them, followed by two servants.

The man was five feet six or seven inches tall, which was considered to be of above average height. He was taller than most of Chen Ying and his companions. He was wearing silk and had a jade belt around his waist. It was unknown what material it was made of, but it was obvious at first glance that he was either rich or noble.

"My governor is different!"

Seeing that the man in front of him seemed to look down on the governor, Qingqi straightened his back and began to explain.

But in response to his words, the man smiled and said, "There are more than 300 states in the Tang Dynasty, and most of them have governors. Why can't we discuss it?"

"Humph! Anyway, my governor is different."

The Qingqi remembered the military discipline of the Longxi Army and kept their mouths shut when they were away from home.

But the man laughed when he heard it and said, "Forget it, just think that your governor is different."

"When you pass the imperial examination in the future, maybe you can even serve in the same court as your governor."

"High school?" Chen Ying looked the man up and down: "Are you here to take the imperial examination?"

"Of course!" The man was in high spirits. Seeing this, the servant behind him came forward and whispered in his ear. No one knew what he said, but the man nodded.

"Got it." He replied to the servant, and then looked at Chen Ying and others:

"I see that you are from the west and seem to be from the military. If you don't mind, I am willing to set up a table of wine in the tavern, just to know what is happening in the west so that I can write current affairs and poems for the imperial examination."

The man stated his purpose directly, and Chen Ying nodded after hearing it: "We can have dinner, but we have things to do now."

"It doesn't matter if you wait a few more days. I haven't signed up yet anyway." The man was quite generous. After responding, he took out a wooden sign from his waist and handed it over.

"If you are done with your work, you can come here to ask questions. My name is..."

"Get away!!"

The man's introduction was interrupted as two groups of light cavalry rushed into the city through the Jinguan Gate, one in front and one behind, with expedited markings on their bodies.

Seeing them rushing in from the Jinguan Gate, Chen Ying immediately guessed where they came from.

"I have urgent matters to attend to first. I will go find you later!"

Chen Ying bowed and took his leave, then disappeared into the crowd with more than ten cavalrymen leading horses.

Seeing them leave, a servant stepped forward and said, "Sir, these people are speaking rudely, why are you setting up a banquet with them?"

"Haha..." The man smiled and then looked towards the Golden Light Gate:

"Don't forget, something happened in the west recently. I think they are rough and don't look like government troops. Maybe they are from Hexi."

"When the imperial examinations are held next year, whether it's current affairs or poetry, they can bring something new to me."

"Besides, the wine for the table is only a few thousand dollars, and the most expensive is no more than ten thousand dollars. The family can earn it back in a few days. Why should we care about it?"

After saying this, the man led his servants into the West Market, chose a brothel and walked into it, then disappeared at the door of the brothel surrounded by prostitutes and prostitutes.

As for Chen Ying and his group, they followed Liu Jilong's instructions and headed towards the Southern Court after entering Chang'an.

After being informed by the guards of the Southern Court, Chen Ying was soon taken to a government office and met an official wearing a light crimson robe.

The official talked with him for a while, and then sent someone to arrange for them to go to Qinglong Temple in Xinchangfang to rest.

The reason for this arrangement is really helpless.

After the An-Shi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty, each vassal state would basically purchase real estate in Chang'an on its own to entertain officials from the state who came to Beijing, and the expenses were also borne by the vassal state itself.

After all, the Jinzouyuan could not only receive officials from the town who came to Beijing, but also send officials to stay there permanently to gather intelligence from the capital.

In addition, Jinzouyuan would occasionally take on the function of "exchange".

Starting from the time of Emperor Xianzong of Tang, merchants from various vassal states in the capital would hand over the proceeds from their sales to the Jinzouyuan stationed in Beijing, which would then issue a "written certificate" or "official receipt", one copy of which would be given to the merchant and the other copy would be sent to the province itself.

Whether merchants were traveling from the countryside to the capital or from the capital back to the countryside, they did not need to carry a lot of money. They could travel light and cash the money when they arrived, which was similar to a check in later generations.

Precisely because of its multiple functions, local military governors and even provinces actively organized the Jinzouyuan in Beijing.

Although there was no Jinzouyuan in Hexi, there was Zhang Yitan's mansion as a place to rest, so there was no Jinzouyuan.

Chen Ying and others were arranged to rest in the temple, mainly because Liu Jilong did not set up the Jinzouyuan, and Chen Ying and others could not go to Zhang Yitan's mansion to rest.

However, Chen Ying and the others had no complaints and could take the opportunity to explore Chang'an City.

Just when they were dazzled by the prosperity of Chang'an, Liu Jilian's memorial was delivered to the desk of the Southern Yamen.

Linghu Tao, Cui Xuan and Pei Xiu gathered together, staring at the memorial with frowns, and finally a servant next to them opened it and read out its contents.

The content of the memorial was not much. It began with Liu Jilian's recovery of the three prefectures of He, Lin and Wei, and then talked about the difficulty of the recovery. He did not disappoint the court's expectation of promoting him as the defense commissioner of the three prefectures of He, Lin and Wei.

Now that the three states have been pacified, Liu Jilian, as a loyal minister of the Tang Dynasty, naturally wants to recover other lost territories for the court, so he requests the title of Jiedushi of Longyou.

In addition, Liu Jilong recommended his subordinates Ma Cheng as the governor of Hezhou, Chen Jingchong as the governor of Weizhou, Zhang Chang as the governor of Linzhou, Shang Duoluo as the governor of Taozhou, Li Ji as the governor of Minzhou, and Geng Ming as the governor of…

In short, in Liu Jilong's memorial, he appointed the governors of almost all the twelve states in Longxi to his own generals.

The main thing is to occupy a good position first, regardless of whether you have talent or not.

In addition, Liu Jilian hoped that the court would send prisoners to the three states and open up trade routes so that he could better resist Tubo.

"Ridiculous! He is only just coming of age, how can he be worthy of being presented the banner of the Longyou Jiedushi?!"

"This boy is impetuous and unworthy of great use!"

After the contents of Liu Jilong's memorial were read out by the attendant, Cui Xuan began to mock Liu Jilong.

Pei Xiu frowned and listened to the whole thing before saying, "Mr. Xue (Xue Kui) said in his memorial that Liu Jilong's soldiers would probably not exceed 8,000."

"Although this number is just boasting by the barbarians, it is a fact that they conquer three states in one month. We must be on guard."

"Mr. Xue wants to increase the number of soldiers in Qinzhou and set up Wucheng County to accommodate Lu Ruyue and others. What do you think?"

Pei Xiu asked Linghu Tao and Cui Xuan. Linghu Tao remained silent, while Cui Xuan frowned and said, "The most urgent thing now is to find out the number of troops under Liu Jilong's command."

"If there are really 8,000 soldiers, they can still be considered a powerful vassal state. Qinzhou will naturally need to increase its troops."

"As for how to treat Liu Jilong, it also depends on his strength."

Although Cui Xuan looked down on Liu Jilong, a fellow born in the countryside, he still knew the consequences of offending a powerful vassal. If Liu Jilong had 8,000 armored soldiers and tens of thousands of people, it would be more difficult for the Tang Dynasty to deal with him than to deal with those powerful vassal states in the Central Plains with tens of thousands of soldiers.

Not to mention anything else, if you want to deal with Liu Jilian, you need to send out at least 20,000 to 30,000 troops. Qinzhou does not have that many troops, so they can only be transferred from Guanzhong.

If the troops were transferred from Guanzhong, the supply line would be lengthened. Even from Fengxiang to Longxi, east of Weizhou, the distance was nearly 300 miles, and at least three laborers would be needed to solve the supply problem of one armored soldier.

Even if only 20,000 troops were sent, 60,000 civilians would have to be mobilized, not to mention the terrain of Longxi.

When Xue Ju occupied Longxi, he defeated the government army (Tang army) in a battle at Qianshuiyuan. The list of government troops captured alone could be recorded several times in history books.

Although Liu Jilian is not as powerful as Xue Ju, the current court is not the same as the court at the beginning of the country.

To deal with Liu Jilian, who had an army of 8,000 soldiers, it would cost at least a million strings of money and grain, but the court could not afford that much money and grain now.

Therefore, Cui Xuan and the other two reached a rare agreement on the issue of investigating the number of Liu Jilong's troops.

"The Northern Department should also have a memorial to submit to the Emperor. I will go to the palace and present it to His Majesty."

Cui Xuan would not miss this opportunity. Seeing that Pei Xiu and Linghu Tao did not refuse, he immediately took the two memorials from Liu Jilong and Xue Kui, walked out of the yamen and went to the palace.

Half an hour later, when he arrived outside the Purple Palace, before he could ask anyone to pass on the message, the imperial guards outside the palace bowed to him:
"The Supreme One has ordered that if Cui Xiangruo comes, he can enter directly."

Upon hearing this, Cui Xuan returned the greeting, thinking that Bei Si was really quick, and then took off his shoes and entered the hall.

Li Chen was not in the main hall, but was waiting for him in the side hall.

When he walked to the door of the side hall, he first saw Li Chen, who was sitting in the main seat and governing the country, as well as the Internal Privy Councilor Wang Guichang, the Xuanhui Southern Courtyard Envoy Wang Jufang, and Wang Zongshi of the Shence Army standing next to Li Chen.

The three of them are of different ages, but there is no doubt that they are the most powerful people in Beisi today.

Their appearance here is not a good thing for Nan Ya.

"Your Majesty, I, the Minister of the Left, Cui Xuan, have something to report."

"Give me a seat..."

Li Chen spoke without raising his head. Wang Guichang signaled the eunuchs in the hall to give him a seat.

After Cui Xuan sat down, he presented two memorials: "Your Majesty, these are the memorials from Xue Kui, the governor of Qinzhou and the governor of Tianxiong Army, and Liu Jilong, the defense commander of He, Lin and Wei."

The eunuch took the memorial and presented it to Wang Guichang. After Wang Guichang read it, he turned around and handed it to Li Chen.

Not until this time did Li Chen put down the imperial pen in his hand, picked up the memorial with a calm face and read it.

He first picked up Xue Kui's memorial and looked through it. Although his face was expressionless, people around him could sense that he was not in a good mood.

When he put down Xue Kui's memorial and picked up Liu Jilong's memorial to check, the atmosphere around him dropped to freezing point.

Even so, Li Chen still did not show his temper. Instead, he calmly picked up the memorial and put it aside, then picked up another memorial from the other side.

"This is the memorial from Wang Zonghui, the chief eunuch. Prime Minister Cui, please take a look..."

Li Chen signaled the eunuch to take it and pass it to Cui Xuan, and Cui Xuan also saw the contents of Wang Zonghui's memorial a moment later.

The contents of the three memorials were not much different, the only difference was the casualties of Lu Ruyue, Lin Ruzhen and others, as well as Liu Jilian's military strength.

In Wang Zonghui's memorial, Wang Zonghui was certain that Liu Jilian had 8,000 armored soldiers, and at that moment he had captured thousands of armored Tibetans from three states, so he actually had nearly 10,000 armored soldiers.

In Xue Kui's memorial, he believed that Liu Jilong's armored soldiers would not exceed 5,000, and even if they captured Tibetan armored soldiers, the number would not exceed 8,000.

However, in Liu Jilian's memorial, Liu Jilian actually wrote that the Longxi army had 1,500 elite cavalry and 2,000 armored soldiers, and they killed nearly 10,000 bandits and 3,000 armored soldiers in the process of recovering three states.

In total, the Longxi Army under Liu Jilian should have 6,500 soldiers, which is the smallest number in the report submitted by the three men.

"Your Majesty, Liu Jilong is indeed hiding his incompetence. I think what Xue Kui and Wang Zonghui said makes sense, but Liu Jilong should have no less than 8,000 soldiers under his command."

Cui Xuan was a shrewd man, so he would certainly not underestimate the number of Liu Jilong's soldiers.

If Liu Jilian only had more than 3,000 armored soldiers, and he captured three states in one month, wouldn't that be a slap in the face of Xue Kui and Wang Zonghui?

As for the specific number of Liu Jilian's troops, Cui Xuan didn't care. Anyway, with Xue Kui stationed in Qinzhou, it was impossible for Liu Jilian to cross Longshan.

"Um……"

In response to Cui Xuan's words, Li Chen responded and then did not speak for a long time.

It was only after Wang Guichang and the other two had read the memorials submitted by Xue Kui and Liu Jilong that they waited for the other three to speak.

Among the three, Wang Guichang was the first to speak: "Your Majesty, Liu Jilong only recovered three states, but he wanted to be appointed as the governor of Longyou. I think he is still young and his achievements are not worthy of the position."

"Your Majesty, I also think that Liu Jilong's achievements are not worthy of his position, and the court does not need to promote him to an official position!" Wang Jufang also despised Liu Jilong.

Compared with the two, Wang Zongshi, who held military power, was not so radical. Because Wang Zonghui and Gao Pian had written him handwritten letters, he naturally knew what the situation was in Longxi.

"Your Majesty, I think that although Liu Jilong is young, he has nearly 10,000 soldiers under his command, and has Hexi as his support, so he must be granted a title."

"However, his request for the post of Jiedushi of Longyou is too self-important. Why not promote him to the title of Yinqing Guanglu Dafu, Longxi Bo, with a fief of 700 households, and the title of Inspector of the Ministry of War?"

"As for the various generals and provincial governors he requested in his memorial, they may be granted as well."

Wang Zongshi’s idea was very simple. Just from the letters between Wang Zonghui and Gao Pian, he knew that Liu Jilian was an unruly guy.

However, after taking over the three states, he dared to ask for the post of Jiedushi of Longyou, which was very different from the cautious Zhang Yichao and Zhang Huaishen in Hexi.

When faced with such a powerful and unruly vassal, one still has to treat him with caution and appease him, and focus his energy on recovering the seven prefectures of Longnan and the two prefectures of Hehuang. This is better than letting him do nothing in the four prefectures of Longxi and cause trouble for the court all day long.

"Prime Minister Cui...what do you think?"

Li Chen hesitated for a moment, then asked Cui Xuan, and Cui Xuan hesitated and said:
"I think the issue of promotion and reward can be put on hold for now, waiting for the three provinces and six ministries to discuss it."

"We can now send prisoners from the capital, Shannan, and Guannei Road to Longxi to mix in with the court spies and find out the truth about Liu Jilong."

"If Liu Jilong is strong, it won't be too late to discuss his promotion..."

Cui Xuan still used the same method, first finding out Liu Jilong's strengths and weaknesses, and then finding a way to deal with him.

If he is really powerful, then we must be careful with him.

If his army is not strong enough, then we can think of better ways to appease him.

Thinking of this, Li Chen nodded and said, "If that's the case, then we will open the Qinwei trade route and release prisoners from the capital, Guannei, Shannan and other places to garrison the three states on the border."

"As for the matter of the spy, let Prime Minister Cui arrange it."

"I accept your order..." Cui Xuan happily agreed, but before he could continue discussing the next matter, Wang Zongshi beside Li Chen bowed and said:
"Your Majesty, Qinzhou failed to recapture Linwei this time, and Xue Kui and Wang Zonghui should be punished."

"I suggest that the two of them be sent to the capital to report on their work, and that the affairs of Qinzhou be temporarily handled by Gao Pian, the Marquis of the Shen Ce Army."

"Your Majesty, you can't do that!" Cui Xuan interrupted hurriedly:
"The speed at which Liu Jilong recovered the two states this time was something no one had expected. How can we blame Xue Kui for this?"

"Since taking office, Xue Kui has worked diligently and has resisted the invasion of foreign bandits several times. Even if he is not rewarded, he should not be removed from his post!"

Cui Xuan finally understood why the three people from the Northern Division appeared in the Purple Palace. It turned out that they were eyeing the positions of the Governor of Qinzhou and the Jiedushi of the Tianxiong Army.

"Prime Minister Cui is wrong..."

Wang Zongshi shook his head and said, "The recovery of Linwei and Weizhou was originally what the court ordered Xue Kui to do."

"Now that Xue Kui and Wang Zonghui have failed to recover Linwei and Weizhou, they should be punished."

"If the imperial court is hesitant even about this matter of reward and punishment, can the military governors of various towns be exempted from punishment based on their past achievements?"

"This matter..." Cui Xuan's face darkened and he tried to explain, but before he could open his mouth, Li Chen interrupted their quarrel.

"Let's put this matter aside for now. After we get to know Longxi's real situation, we can discuss how to reward Liu Jilong."

"I accept the decree..."

Li Chen's attitude was very clear. He had to know how strong Liu Jilian was after he recovered the three states before he could make a decision.

Thinking of this, Cui Xuan quickly stood up and said, "In this case, I will go to the six ministries to handle this matter now."

"Well, Prime Minister Cui, take care." Li Chen picked up the imperial pen and responded without raising his head.

Not long after, Cui Xuan left the Purple Palace under the watchful eyes of Wang Zongshi and others.

(End of this chapter)