Tiantang

Chapter 438 The emperor's heart is too big!

Chapter 448 The emperor's heart is too big!
Dolma hurried back to the "imperial palace" where the emperor stayed temporarily, entered her small courtyard and locked the door behind her.

Captain Feng captured the four Persian merchants into Nan Jiyun's General's Mansion. Nan Jiyun learned that these four people had offended Concubine Zang, so he didn't dare to neglect, and hurriedly reported to the emperor.

In fact, it was not a big deal, it was enough for Nan Jiyun to judge, there was no need to alarm the emperor, and there was no need for Zhang Xuan to personally intervene.Hearing that they were Persian merchants, Zhang Xuan immediately moved his heart, and sent someone to bring the four of them here, expressing that he would question them in person.

Mansur and the other four were escorted in desperately and terrified, and knelt down under Zhang Xuan's table with a plop, and fell to the ground with trembling shoulders.

They are just ordinary Persian merchants, traveling between the Central Plains and Persia, making profits by bartering.Unexpectedly, a few words unintentionally offended the emperor's Tubo concubine, which led to a senseless catastrophe.

And the emperor wanted to interrogate them himself—this meant that they were in danger this time, and they might die in Jiuquan and fall in this land of Liangzhou.

Zhang Xuan got up slowly, and he looked down at the four Persians prostrate at his feet.

It took a long time before he said calmly, "Maybe you can understand Chinese?"

"Your Majesty, the villain Mansur, the villain can understand Chinese... The villain offends the Tibetan concubine, and deserves death. Please forgive me!" Mansur and others traveled between Persia and the Central Plains, naturally Proficient in Chinese, seeing the emperor's questioning, it seems that his attitude is not as angry as imagined, and he can't help but hope for survival.

"Your Majesty, please forgive me!" The other three Persians also kowtowed repeatedly, begging for mercy.

"Don't panic, I won't kill you. However, if you insult my concubine, you can be punished with death, but you can't escape with life—Nanba, I will take it down and give me 20 sticks to show me a small punishment."

Zhang Xuan said slowly.

"Thank you for your majesty's grace of not killing, villains can't repay you..." Hearing that the emperor would not kill, Mansur was overjoyed, knelt on the ground and shouted long live to be grateful.

"Okay, stop shouting. If I say I won't kill you, I won't kill you. I have a few words to ask you, and you must answer truthfully. If there are half a sentence that is not true, don't blame the king for being ruthless!"

"Mansur, you answer." Zhang Xuan sat back slowly again, and said lightly, "You are from Persia—of course, Persia has been destroyed by the black-clothed cannibal, and now you can barely be considered a cannibal. Let me ask you, is the big cannibal intending to go east and invade our Chinese territory?"

"Are the Tucharo, Tuqishi, and even the nine countries with the nine surnames of Zhaowu all controlled by the big cannibals? What is the strength of the army? Who is the name of the big cannibal generals guarding the Congling Ridge... one by one for me Speak."

Hearing this, Mansur calmed down, and smiled respectfully, "Your Majesty, Mansur has traveled between Persia and the Chinese state for many years. To answer any questions His Majesty may have..."

Before Mansur finished speaking, he was interrupted by Nan Jiyun with a cold snort, "Stop talking nonsense, and answer His Majesty's words quickly!"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Mansur laughed again and again, "Your Majesty, since Gao Xianzhi's army was defeated by Talas in the past, Dashi has stationed tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in the Congling Valley, and most of them are stationed in Samarkand, Kang. , Anguo, and Tocharo."

"And the villain heard that King Dabolu has surrendered to Dashi. Tuqi Shi Sulu Khan has also recently formed an ally with Dashiren, and Dashi Caliph Mahdi also married Princess Saiyan to Sulu Khan as Khan Don..."

"Most of the countries in Congling are attached to Dashi, and Tuqishi has harassed the four towns of Anxi from time to time in the Western Regions. Today, all the broken leaves have fallen into the hands of Tuqishi, and the Anxi Protectorate can only control Qiucha, The three towns of Khotan and Shule... even Shule was once occupied by the Tuqishi people."

"Northwest cities and kingdoms of Beiting Protectorate Mansion have also fallen under the control of Tuqishi and the big cannibal one after another... When the villain came to the Central Plains, I heard that Beiting Protectorate Mansion was planning to move to Yiwu..."

Mansur spoke in a low voice with trepidation, pouring out beans in a bamboo tube, telling out all the relevant information he could learn about the Western Regions, the Congling Kingdoms, and the big cannibals. Although there was no clear logic at all, the amount of information was great. It is very large, and many of them are unknown to the emperor Zhang Xuan.

The more Zhang Xuan listened, the uglier his face became.And the general Nan Jiyun who was standing by the side not only had an ugly face, but a thin layer of beads of sweat oozed from his forehead.If the Persian in front of him did not tell lies, then it meant that the officials of Anxi and Beiting had concealed a considerable degree of real information from the court and the emperor.

Feng Changqing from Anxi went to the Western Regions not long ago, but Cheng Qianli from Beiting has been in the Beiting Dufu Mansion for several years. It turns out that the Tuqishi people and the big cannibals have already occupied half of the area under the jurisdiction of the Beiting Duhufu.Although, it may be de facto control rather than overt occupation.

Zhang Xuan slammed the table angrily.

boom!
Mansur was startled, quickly shut up, and knelt down on the ground with a pale face.

Zhang Xuan breathed a sigh of relief, and said in a deep voice, "Mansur, you don't have to be afraid. I'm here to ask you, that is to say-not only the Tucharo and Zhaowu kingdoms are occupied by big cannibals, but even Anxi four The town is being harassed by Tuqishi people, is it in danger?"

Mansur's heart skipped a beat, and he thought: It's not possible to be in danger, but in a few years, the Anxi Protectorate will exist in name only, and the four towns of Anxi will be controlled by Tuqishi people, it is possible.

But he didn't dare to say it so bluntly, he just made a few promises and was vague.

"Also, is it true that the Tuqishi people controlled the northwestern region of Beiting? Tell the truth, if there is even half a lie, I will never forgive you."

Zhang Xuan's voice was cold.

Mansur trembled in fear, "Your Majesty, how dare a villain deceive His Majesty. The Tuqishi people set up fortresses in Nilek, Urabor and other cities, blocking roads and extorting violent taxes, making the businessmen complain endlessly, villain This time, we are planning to detour through Ruoqiang, Khotan, and Shule, and take the southern route to avoid the bandit-like Tuqi Shiren."

Zhang Xuan was silent.

He waved his hand and said, "Nan Ba, take the four of them down first, and wait for my summons at any time."

"Yes, I obey the order." Nan Jiyun saw that the emperor's mood was very bad, so he didn't dare to neglect, and hurriedly took the four Persians away from Mansur.

Watching Nan Jiyun leave with the Persians, Zhang Xuan suddenly roared, "Guo Ziyi! Zhang Xun! Come out!"

Guo Ziyi and Zhang Xun, who had stood behind the screen and listened for a long time with pale faces, came out in a hurry and knelt down on the ground, not daring to raise their heads.

The situation in the Western Regions is not good. In fact, the two of them have also heard about it. Most of the merchants who come and go say so. The Persian Mansur did not lie, and of course he dare not lie.It's just that the two of them didn't receive the official report from Feng Changqing and Cheng Qianli, the chief officials of the Anxi Governor's Mansion and the Beiting Governor, so they couldn't report the hearsay news to the emperor, because it involved Feng Changqing and Cheng Qianli. Qing and Cheng Qianli, the two great officials of the frontier, and Yang Kai, a court official who had just stepped down from Anxi and entered Beijing as prime minister.

"Did you all hear that? Anxi may be understandable. The four towns of Anxi are close to Congling, bordering on the territory of the big cannibals. It is also expected that the Tuqishi people took advantage of the fire to loot after the Talas War. But—but, I never imagined that half of Beiting area would also fall into the hands of the Tuqi Shi people."

"That's all! Cheng Qianli dared to hide it and not report it! It's unreasonable to sing and dance in the report to me last month!"

"The Western Regions are full of dangers. The big cannibals and the Tuqi Shiren are stalking, but my emperor, my court, is still kept in the dark. If I hadn't accidentally asked these four Persians to ask questions, wouldn't I have to When the Western Regions fall completely, I will still be ignorant!"

"Damn it! When Yang Qi returned to Beijing to report on his duties, I asked him face to face how the situation in Anxi was. He said that the four towns of Anxi are as solid as gold. Although there are occasional raids by sudden cavalry, they are not a serious problem! Look, this is what he told me. if!"

Zhang Xuan was furious, his roar echoed in the study, Guo Ziyi and Zhang Xuncheng were extremely frightened and depressed.

The two dared not reply, so they could only get up on the ground, waiting for Zhang Xuan to vent his anger.

Zhang Xuan got angry for a long time, and then slowly calmed down.

The situation in the Western Regions is not good, and he knows it well.The civil strife in the Central Plains and the change of dynasties will definitely weaken the control over the Western Regions. After the Battle of Talas, the forces of the Great Cannibal invaded eastward.As for the Tuqi Shiren, they are even more ambitious and have no loyalty at all. It is not difficult to understand that they took advantage of the fire to loot and invade the four towns of Anxi.

But Beiting—the situation in Beiting is so bad, which is beyond Zhang Xuan's expectation.Because from the beginning to the end, whether it was resisting Tubo or quelling the rebellion, he never recruited Beiting's army and horses. That is to say, the only unaffected town in the world was Beiting.

But what did Cheng Qianli do in Beiting?
Zhang Xuan angrily patted on the table again, gritted his teeth and said, "Guo Ziyi, send someone to Beiting and Anxi to find out the situation, if everything is true—"

Zhang Xuan let out a long breath and said coldly, "If everything is true, Cheng Qianli will not escape the crime of concealing it and not reporting it, Yang Qi lied to me, and Feng Changqing's ineffectiveness, they will all be to blame."

"Zhang Xun, pass on the decree, and order Yang Lian to lead an army from Shenwu City to attack Xiaobolu immediately in Kaichun. He must take Xiaobolu down before I lead the army into the Western Regions."

"The minister complies with the decree." Zhang Xun got up with relief and went out to deliver the decree.

And Guo Ziyi also bowed and bowed in embarrassment, and exited the study.

After the two left, they suddenly heard the sound of cups being smashed behind them, and couldn't help but become more frightened, and hurried away.

In Zhang Xuan's rage, he almost announced on the spot that Yang Qi would be dismissed from his post, and Cheng Qianli would be arrested and brought back to Liangzhou for interrogation.But as the emperor, he must consider everything.Cheng Qianli is far away in Beiting, if Cheng Qianli is taken down, the situation in Beiting will definitely become more chaotic.

And Yang Kai is an important minister of the imperial court, guarding Zhongjing together with Chen Xilie. He is not in the imperial capital at the moment. If Yang Kai is to be dismissed directly, it will cause turmoil in the court of Zhongjing and ambush the hidden danger of instability.

Therefore, the two cannot be moved for the time being.

But after Zhang Xuan pacified the Western Regions, Cheng Qianli and Yang Qi would be severely punished for their deceit and failure to report.

As an emperor, Zhang Xuan could tolerate the incompetence of his subjects, but he could not tolerate their deceit.

This opening cannot be opened. If this opening is opened, where is the authority of the emperor?Where is the control of the court?

Zhang Xuan suddenly got up and went out to Zhuo Ma's courtyard.While walking, he secretly made up his mind that the schedule of the Western Expedition should be brought forward.

……

……

Dolma was in a very bad mood.

Although Tubo was subjugated, the prosperity and glory of Tubo's subjugation in the past is still entangled in the hearts of many Tubo people, and Dolma is no exception.Today those few Persians taunted and abused the Tibetans, which directly touched Dolma's sensitive nerves.

As the current imperial concubine, she can easily kill the four Persians to vent her anger, but killing them can't change the ending of Tubo's subjugation.Thinking of this, Dolma became disheartened, feeling indescribably sad and helpless.

Zhang Xuan pushed the door away, waved his hand, and the maids hurriedly retreated silently.

Dolma lay on the bed and sobbed mournfully, and when he heard movement behind him, he couldn't help scolding hysterically, "I told you all, don't bother me again, if you hear me, get out!"

Zhang Xuan coughed lightly.

Dolma heard his movements, and suddenly looked up and saw the emperor standing in front of her with a calm smile on his face, she couldn't help being stunned for a moment, hesitated for a moment, wiped away her tears, then got up and bowed Go down, "The concubine pays homage to His Majesty. The concubine didn't know that His Majesty was coming, so I was far away to welcome you. Please forgive me, Your Majesty!"

Zhang Xuan helped Zhuo Ma up, and sat down on the bed.

He smiled faintly, "Dolma, I destroyed Tubo and accepted you as a concubine, are you holding grudges against me?"

The corner of Zhuoma's mouth trembled, "The concubine dare not."

"Since you don't dare, it means you still have thoughts in your heart. Hehe, but I don't blame you." Zhang Xuan smiled softly, "I told you a long time ago that I will destroy Tubo, but I will let Tubo People live a better life. Whether you believe it or not, you have to accept the reality."

"I have to remind you that you are now my concubine, not a Tubo woman anymore."

"Since you are an imperial concubine, you must keep your duty as an imperial concubine. This is what I told you."

"Not only will I destroy Tubo, but I will also expand the territory of our dynasty to an extent that is as far from ancient times as it is today. I will personally create a powerful empire with unlimited territory, whether it is Tubo, the Western Regions, Turks and Uyghurs, or even above the Congling Mountains and beyond. The land of the Persian eclipse will be the place where I let my horses go...you might as well wait and see!"

"Remember, you are my woman. In the future, you will witness the rise of a supreme power with me! This is your destiny, and it is also my destiny!" After speaking, Zhang Xuan got up and strode away.

Dolma stared at Zhang Xuan's tall back striding away in shock and complexity, speechless.

It wasn't until this moment that she realized that a mere Tubo was nothing in the emperor's heart. The emperor's heart was so big that she couldn't see the border even if she looked up.

(End of this chapter)