Li Shimin explained some more things, and the order was considered issued. The Baiqi were the emperor's personal homage, so mobilizing these troops no longer had to be complicated by ordering orders from the Prime Minister's Cabinet and the Ministry of War. Li Shimin said that Qin Mubai should stay in the palace in the afternoon so that he could accompany Li Zhi and Li Mingda when he had free time. Secondly, he asked Qin Mubai to go to the Baiqi Army Camp to recruit manpower to prepare for tomorrow's departure. .
Qin Mubai was secretly happy, it just so happened that I still had something to do!
Although it has entered autumn, the weather in Guan Nei is still hot. Li Shimin took a nap in Penglai Hall and then went to Wude Hall to take care of government affairs. The Tang Dynasty has been troubled recently, with a locust plague in Hedong and an earthquake in Shannan Road. It seems that the situation at the northwest border is a little tense and not as peaceful as before. Coupled with the Jiangzhou flood, Li Shimin became busy for a while. In normal times, such floods would have been enough to attract the attention of the Manchu Dynasty and the emperor's personal intervention. But nowadays, there are so many important matters in the imperial court, so Li Shimin followed this excuse and sent two "idlers" to take care of Jiangzhou affairs.
On the one hand, it allows Li Ke to return to the stage and establish the favor of the royal family. On the other hand, it also allows Qin Mubai to stay away from the palace and Princess Gaoyang, and calm down the turmoil of the royal marriage. Li Shimin's plan was not without success, and he achieved multiple things with one stone.
After the emperor left, Li Shimin played with Li Zhi and Li Mingda in the imperial garden for a while, taught them how to play the pipa, and told them stories. After that, he gently handed them over to Yu Shinan to study, and he came to Baiqi Camp.
After more than half a year, Baiqi Camp has almost become Qin Mubai's second home, and the soldiers here are like brothers. But today, when Qin Mu Baibu appeared in the camp, all the soldiers exclaimed. Everyone gathered around in surprise and joy, and said all at once: "General Qin, you are finally back!"
"This general just took a few days off, why are you making such a fuss?" Qin Mubai asked a little puzzled.
The sergeants were usually very close to Qin Mubai, talking to him about almost everything, and regarded him as the most reliable and trustworthy person. At this time, everyone told him that Changsun Huan left after the emperor issued an order two days ago. It is said that he was transferred to Nanya of the capital as the gatekeeper of the Nine Cities. Although his rank was mentioned as the fifth rank, his position was not comparable to that of Baiqi deputy envoy. To put it bluntly, he was demoted after being promoted openly and secretly.
Nan Ya is compared to the Bei Ya forbidden army that is specially stationed in the imperial city. The Tang Dynasty implemented the government army system. Local prefectures and counties had government soldiers. They served as soldiers when they were busy with farming and when they were slack. They prepared their own food, horses, ordnance and other items for military service, and the state could recruit them for use at any time. These imperial soldiers were all under the command of the Twelve Guards. They took turns going to the capital to garrison under orders, and most of them were stationed in the military camps outside Chang'an City. A small number of them were stationed at the nine gates of Chang'an City, and this part of the government soldiers were temporarily incorporated into the imperial army and were funded by the imperial court like mercenaries.
In other words, Changsun Huan was transferred to guard the gate of Chang'an, and he was in charge of a group of "semi-mercenaries" from all over the country. Although it is a little higher than the grade of the imperial soldiers, it is far lower than the imperial guards who are employed by the imperial court for life, and even worse than the Baiqi.
"Chang Sun Huan left, and General Qin suddenly disappeared again. We all thought that General Qin would be transferred soon! Now there are only two old deputy envoys, Yuchi Baoyun and Cheng Huaibi, left in the army. "General Qin, are you going to change the leadership of Baiqi?" the sergeants asked worriedly.
"Don't make blind guesses. I am still the Hundred Cavalry Envoy and will not leave you." Qin Mubai said to them firmly, "However, I have recently been ordered by the emperor to go out on errands and may have to leave the military camp for a while. You guys Please calm down and obey Deputy Ambassador Li's instructions and do your job well, don't make any mistakes!"
"Yes, General!"
Later, Qin Mubai returned to the Yamen. His office is still empty, and Li Junxian can only do things in his Changshi Yamen. When he heard that Qin Mubai was coming, he hurried out to greet him.
Now that Li Junxian no longer works as a prison guard, he is completely a member of Baiqi. His attitude towards Qin Mubai, his direct superior, has also changed. He is more awe-inspiring in his intimacy and smiles at Qin Mubai. Said: "General Qin is back! I happen to have something to discuss with you, and I am planning to visit your house!"
"If Li Changshi has any advice, you don't have to be so polite." Qin Mubai said with a smile. Hearing him call himself a "humble position", Qin Mubai was really not used to it. After all, Li Junxian is the elder, with a higher rank and seniority.
Li Junxian then told Qin Mubai that this morning King Wu Li Ke came to Baiqi on the order of the emperor and said that he would recruit a team of people to accompany him on errands in Jiangzhou. Li Junxian didn't know who to send, so he came to ask Qin Mubai specifically.
Qin Mubai smiled: "No need to ask. I will handle this matter myself."
"What? You want to personally accompany King Wu to Jiangzhou?" Li Junxian was not an insider and was obviously a little surprised.
"good."
"What about Baiqi?" Li Junxian asked.
Qin Mubai smiled meaningfully: "When I am away, you will be in charge of Baiqi. You are not only the veteran of Baiqi's history, but also the new deputy envoy, and a senior general. No one is more suitable than you. Take over Baiqi.”
"Take over?" Li Junxian seemed to hear the hidden meaning in Qin Mubai's words, and asked in confusion, "Why did the general say this?"
"It's nothing. Anyway, when I'm away, you can take charge of Baiqi for me." Qin Mubai didn't want to say too much to him, "I have already told my brothers about my temporary departure, and they will listen to you. . In addition, I will now select a hundred people to take with me to Jiangzhou."
Li Junxian's mind didn't turn around for a while, but he had no time to think about it, so he had to respond: "Yes. The humble post immediately sent an order to recruit all the soldiers."
"No need. Bring me the roster and I can just check it with a pen."
A moment later, Qin Mubai checked off a list of one hundred people. Li Junxian picked it up and took a look at it. He couldn't help but be a little surprised and thought to himself: Why didn't he even bring Pang Fei with him? And none of the confidants who were usually closest to him were taken away. It seems that this kid is a little worried. I will take the opportunity to seize power after he is gone, right
In fact, how could Li Junxian guess Qin Mubai's thoughts clearly? Leaving his confidants in Baiqi certainly had the intention of paving the way for him, but more importantly, it was because of Princess Gaoyang's matter. With the help of Pang Fei and these confidants, it will be easier to accomplish things. And these people will soon be transferred to the Xianju Palace together, and they will never leave Princess Gaoyang. Qin Mubai always felt a little constrained by the presence of Sun Huan, the villain who liked to make small reports. Nowadays, the city is cleaner and cleaner. Although Qin Mubai has left Chang'an, he is not worried about his leaving.
One hundred soldiers were quickly assembled. Qin Mubai asked one of the brigade commanders to lead the team and first went to Prince Wu's Mansion to report. After he has finished taking care of his military affairs, he will go to meet Li Ke together and make an appointment to set off.
Just when the Yamen were sorting out some military registration documents and preparing to hand them over to Li Junxian, Pang Fei slipped in. After closing the door, he walked up to Qin Mubai and said, "Teacher, my disciple heard from the brothers who were changing the guard in the Immortal Palace Hall that you were back, and I hurriedly found an excuse to see you. What do you want to say to my teacher?"
"How is Princess Gaoyang doing lately?" Qin Mubai asked.
"It's very quiet, and there's not much noise." Pang Fei said, "The emperor visited her in person every once in a while, and sometimes took her to the Imperial City Forbidden Garden to ride horses and play ball. Princess Gaoyang was not as excited and angry as before, as if nothing happened. ”
"Hmm..." Qin Mubai nodded, thinking that the emperor had indeed adopted a "delay strategy" and was not in a hurry to force Princess Gaoyang to marry immediately. The conflict between their father and daughter has been temporarily alleviated, which is a good thing. However, the emperor's intention was to quell this turmoil that was damaging to the royal family's prestige. This did not mean that he had given up the idea of marrying a daughter into the family.
In fact, the more he deliberately tried to make Princess Gaoyang happy and stabilize her, the more firm his belief in marrying her was. Otherwise, why would he bother so much? It was too easy for Li Shimin to make Princess Gaoyang happy. He could do it as soon as Jinkou opened the door to cancel the engagement.
In other words, although this matter seems to be calming down on the surface, in fact it is still undercurrent and is getting closer and closer to the edge of explosion.
The calmer it is, the more dangerous it is!
It seems that it is time for the strategy tailor-made for Princess Gaoyang to appear. Otherwise, when the wedding day comes, there is still no improvement, and Princess Gaoyang does not see Qin Mubai coming to help her, so she will definitely burst into anger and bite back. By then, he will be dead!
Qin Mubai already knew this plan, and whispered to Pang Fei: "I will leave Chang'an for a long time. If there is any special news from Princess Gaoyang, for example, the emperor arranges for Fang Yiai to meet Princess Gaoyang, Or if you publicly announce the marriage of Princess Gaoyang to your beloved, you can go to Qujiangfang to find Miss Yao'er. She will give it to you. After reading it, you must burn it and tell it to Princess Gao Yang in person. Remember not to make any mistakes, let alone let any third person know about it, otherwise I will die. It’s settled. There must be a lot of people affected by this.”
Pang Fei clasped his fists solemnly: "Teacher, don't worry, I have to deal with this matter even if I go through fire and water. If it doesn't work, I will cut off this head to compensate my mentor!"
"Since you know the matter is important, I won't say more. In short, I can trust you, and you must be careful. Remember."
"Teacher, don't worry. From now on, I won't even drink alcohol, so as not to cause any trouble."
"Very good. I can rest assured that you can do things. If there is an emergency and you have to come to Jiangzhou to see me."
"yes!"
After taking care of these things, Qin Mubai breathed a sigh of relief. After returning to Penglai Hall and saying goodbye to Li Zhi and Li Mingda, he mounted his horse and left the palace for Lichen Residence.