Late Tang

Hanliang Temple.

Although it's already August, the autumn tigers in Xi'an are still fierce.However, the Hanliang Hall is built along the water, and it is a very rare place to escape the summer heat in the palace.The north is Taiye Pool, which is very cool in summer.Not only that, the palace is also equipped with mechanically driven refrigeration equipment, which uses the method of cold water circulation, and uses the fan wheel to rotate to generate wind force to send cold air into the palace.At the same time, mechanically installed cold water is sent to the roof of the hall, and it is allowed to go straight down along the eaves, forming a water curtain and arousing cool air.

The wind hunts the skirts, and the hall is cool.

Not only in the huge Hanliang Hall at this time, apart from Tian Lingzi and Lu Xie, there is only the emperor Li Xuan sitting on the throne.

Li Xuan was wearing a full-body gold armor of Qinglong style, sitting on the throne, with a helmet on the desk, and a five-foot two-handed sword drawn out of its sheath in both hands.He stared at Tian Lingzi and Lu Xie for a long time.

"Since Emperor Xuanzong, the country has never had such a good situation. Su Daide and even His Majesty Xianzong Xuanzong have worked hard, but there is no such good opportunity. The southwest and northwest borders are stable, and the troubles in the northeast have been eliminated. I think this is the completion. Great opportunity for Emperor Dezong Xianzong's unfinished business."

Tian Lingzi's heart trembled, and he finally understood what the emperor meant today.

Emperor Dezong and Emperor Xianzong were the sons of heaven who strongly advocated the removal of the Tibetans.

At the time of Emperor Dezong, in the second year of Jianzhong, Li Baochen died in Chengde Jiedu, and his son Li Weiyue asked him to stay behind and implement the vassal town to pass on his son.Dezong refused, and the war started.Although Li Weiyue was defeated and killed, but because the generals refused to accept when the territory was divided into Germany, Zhu Tao in Youzhou joined forces with Wei Bo Tianyue, Ziqing Li Na and Huaixi Li Xilie to rebel again.Because of this, the chaos in the four towns was caused. Wei Bo and Cheng De even sent assassins into Chang'an to assassinate the prime minister.

Later, because Dezong dispatched Jingyuan soldiers to Xiangcheng for help, the Jingyuan Mutiny led to the Jingyuan Mutiny. Zhu Xi proclaimed himself emperor and broke Chang'an, and Dezong fled to Fengtian.If it weren't for the Shence Army Li Sheng and others who defeated the rebels, Li Tang would have almost perished.At that time, although Lulong and other towns finally expressed their submission to the imperial court and the chaos of the four towns subsided, in fact, the towns in Hebei still supported their own weight and separated themselves from Hebei.

When he came to Xianzong, the son of Dezong, because Xianzong knew the prosperity of Taizong and Xuanzong since he was a child, and wanted to restore the prestige of the Tang Dynasty, "Zhiping secretly rebelled".He could not get used to the domineering and domineering of those vassal towns for a long time. So far, after Xianzong ascended the throne, he began the war of cutting down the vassals for more than ten years.

Xianzong's battle to cut down the vassals lasted for more than ten years, and finally there were 48 vassal towns in Yuanhe, almost all of which surrendered to Emperor Xianzong, known as Yuanhe Zhongxing.

Successively pacified Yang Huilin, Empress of Xia Suiyin Festival, Liu Pi, Empress of Xichuan in Jiannan, Li Qi, envoy of Zhenhai Jiedu, Yang Boyu and Zhang Zuoyuan of Yiwu Army, recovered Weibo Town, pacified Huainan Town, recovered Chengde Town, and pacified Ziqing Town.

The more than ten years of Xianzong's battle to reduce the vassals ended the 60-year separatism of the vassals and towns since Daizong Guangde at that time, which dealt a good blow to the power of the vassals and towns, and made the whole country unified at least in name.It can be said that it was precisely because of Xianzong's cutting of the vassal that the Tang Dynasty continued to rule for more than a hundred years.

If it weren't for Mu Zong's wrong strategy for the feudal towns, it would be difficult for the feudal towns to recover. .

But even so, the three most powerful towns in Hebei and the five towns of Huaixi and Huainan at the beginning also suffered a devastating blow. Ziqing and Huaixi were completely pacified, and the three towns in Hebei were divided into five towns. Can really restore vitality, but only lingering.

However, since Emperor Xianzong died at the hands of eunuchs, most of the next Tang emperors were established by eunuchs, and most of them were short-lived.Therefore, in recent years, the central government of the Tang Dynasty has done nothing at all, and the local feudal towns have begun to rise again.

Especially now, Li Jing's strong rise in Dengzhou has made the suppressing power unprecedentedly large.

Tian Lingzi never imagined that this emperor, who used to only know how to play, would become a blockbuster without singing.As soon as he opened his mouth now, he first wanted to conscript himself, and then in a blink of an eye he wanted to cut down the vassal. This is Tian Lingzi, and he was a little at a loss.

"Your Majesty has high aspirations, and the ancestors are blessed. Your Majesty has the ambition of Dezong Xianzong, which is a great good. The land of the world is the land of the king. At present, the frontiers are stable, but some local towns are domineering. This is exactly the imitation of Dezong Xianzong's cut Fan, when the Tang Dynasty was rejuvenated." For a while, Tian Lingzi couldn't tell whether the emperor was just a temporary surname, or whether he was really a wise king with ambition.But no matter what, since the emperor has such an idea, it can just be used.

It is the best thing to deal with Li Jing by taking advantage of the emperor's intention to cut down the vassal.

When Lu Xie heard Tian Lingzi's words, he immediately came back to his senses.Immediately took up the conversation and said: "It is a good thing for your Majesty to cut down the vassal, but I think that although the towns in Hebei have always supported their own self-respect and established themselves independently, the towns in Hebei are not the first enemy. I think that the first thing to do is to cut down the vassal The one to be cut should actually be Li Jing."

Li Xuan didn't expect Lu Xie to say that, he couldn't help but startled for a moment, and shook his head. "What you said is wrong. Mr. Li Jing is loyal to the country, guarding the East China Sea, pacifying the king and respecting the military, and restoring the east of Liao and the west of Liao. He has made great achievements."

Lu Xie replied: "However, Li Jing now alone owns the land of sixteen states, holds 20 soldiers and horses, and is also the commander of the five towns of Datong, Lulong, Ziqing, Zhenguo, and Andong. .Li Jing may have been a loyal minister and general in the past, but if His Majesty does not restrain him, this will harm him."

Tian Lingzi said coldly at the side: "Even if Li Jing is loyal to His Majesty, who can guarantee that Li Jing's civil and martial arts will not be dissatisfied. If they support Li Jing to rebel for their own glory and wealth, I am afraid that Li Jing will not be able to change. If His Majesty truly loves you Li Jing, then don't let this possibility happen."

Li Xuan was silent. Although he was young, he understood some things.It's like when Yizong was seriously ill, the eldest prince was supposed to succeed him.As a result, the left and right lieutenants of the Shence Army believed that the eldest prince was old and intelligent, and it was difficult to control him, so he decided to make him the prince when he was only 12 years old, and then directly killed all four of his elder brothers.In the final analysis, this matter is the reason for those eunuchs for their own interests.

What Tian Lingzi said is not unreasonable. Li Jing may be loyal to the emperor, but his subordinates may want to support Yuanzuo?

With this idea in mind, Li Jing held 20 soldiers and horses in his hands, and had the seal of commander of the five towns to rule the land of sixteen prefectures, so Li Xuan couldn't help frowning.

"Your Majesty, you must be cautious. Today's Li Jing is just like the Anlu Mountain back then." Lu Xie said another sentence in a timely manner.

Li Xuan began to hesitate, feeling a little uneasy after being told by Tian Lingzi and Lu Xie.

Tian Lingzi struck while the iron was hot, and said: "Your Majesty, if you go to Liaodong at this time, if the traitors and ministers around Li Jing have a different heart, your Majesty will be in danger. If such a thing really happens, although the ministers and Shence Army officers can desperately defend Your Majesty, But it will inevitably harm King Andong."

"Are you going to persuade me to call off the conquest?" Li Xuan said unhappily.

Lu Xie's mind turned sharply. Seeing that the emperor had been persuaded, he began to have some barriers against Li Jing in his heart. At this time, of course he had to take the opportunity to join Li Jing again.But he also knows that sometimes, too much is too much.

So he immediately said: "I think it's better for your Majesty to visit Luoyang, the eastern capital, and fight in the far east of Luoyang."

Li Xuan was a little unhappy when he heard that he was only in Luoyang, but Tian Lingzi and Lu Xie allowed him to go to Luoyang, which was considered the biggest concession.After all, the Shence Army's territory is in Guanzhong, Gyeonggi, and Luoyang's control power is already insufficient.It is impossible for them to really let the emperor go to Liaodong, even to Dengzhou.Once the emperor really came into Li Jing's hands, Li Jing would have no place to complain if Li Jing simply got rid of them in the name of the emperor.

No matter how you say it, plus the previous words of provoking the relationship between Li Jing and the emperor, in the end, the emperor finally agreed to go to Luoyang first, and then to Dengzhou if necessary.

"Your Majesty, I believe that since Liaodong is already under actual control, there is no need to retain the name of the Anton Governor's Mansion. Anxi, Anbei, Beiting, and Shanyu Governor's Mansions have all been cancelled. The mansion is also changed to Jinghai. It is better to change the Anton Dadufu Mansion into a feudal town, of course, the land of Anton is huge, it should be divided into several towns."

Of course, Tian Lingzi and Lu Xie would not miss the opportunity to split Li Jing's forces.

According to Lu Xie and Tian Lingzi's advice, the sixteen towns under Li Jing's current control will be divided into several towns.

Among them, the original five prefectures of Ziqing and the three prefectures of Qingqi and Ziqing were named Ziqing Town, which was given the name Funing Army.

Dengzhou and Laizhou are Denglai Town, and Cihao Town is **.

The Ji, Tan, Ping, and Ying prefectures that originally belonged to Lulong Town moved back the Pinglu Army that had moved to Ziqing Town during the Anshi Rebellion.

The four prefectures of Jinzhou, Jizhou, Jianzhou, and Anzhou in the Liaodong Peninsula were set up as Jian'an Town and given the title of Andong Army.

And the three prefectures of Xiuzhou, Hengzhou and Qingzhou along the Yalu River were set up as Hengqing Town Cihao Zhendong Army.

The five towns of Ziqing Funing Army, Denglai Town Army, Liaoxi Pinglu Army, Jian'an East Army, and Hengqing Town East Army divided sixteen prefectures and divided Li Jing's power into five.

"This..." Li Xuan hesitated when he heard this plan.It's not that he's completely opposed to splitting up the current suppressing government, after all, Li Jing's suppressing government is too powerful.What he was worried about was, how could Li Jing agree to such a plan?If Li Jing refuses, what should I do then?

Lu Xie obviously realized this problem early on. Li Jing was not civil servants like Cui Yunqing, Cui Anqian, Zheng Tian, ​​and Wang Duo. He had 20 elite soldiers and hundreds of generals under his command.In case Li Jing was pushed into a hurry and directly rebelled, that would be the real trouble.

"I have a plan, just give Li Jing's civil and military general the post of Jiedushi of the Five Towns. In this way, as long as his subordinates accept the high positions of Jieshuai and Inspector, then who will follow Li Jing to have a second job?" What about the mind? Without those civil servants and military generals, Li Jing has other ideas, I'm afraid it's also powerless." Lu Xie said with a smug smile.In his opinion, in front of such important official positions as Jiedu Envoy, Jiedu Deputy Envoy, Jiedu Marching Sima, Jiedu Judge, and Governor, there should be no Li Jing's subordinates who can really not be tempted.After all, who is willing to risk rebellion when there is a ready-made gun to do it? (To be continued.)