Walking slowly along the way, Qin Mubai took a walk around the city built by Samadhi.
Although this city is not as grand and majestic as Chang'an, it is still prosperous, especially the business travel is extremely active. Walking on this street, the most common people you see are Sogdians wearing traditional Islamic white robes and oiling their hair. Not to mention the rows of shops, you will also encounter an underage child or an elderly person along the way. The old man sitting leaning against the door would also sell sese and agate, which are specialties of the Western Regions, or wine vessels and horses to passers-by. Seeing that Qin Mubai looked like a Central Plains man, many people rushed to ask him if he had brought silk or ceramics from the Central Plains in exchange.
The silks, ceramics and teas of the Tang Dynasty, as well as paintings, armors and wine vessels, were all top goods on the trade routes of the Western Regions, and the profits were extremely huge.
It is said that after a child in Kang State is born, his family will first put honey on his mouth. The intention is to make him "mouth like honey" when he grows up, making it easier to do business and negotiate. Therefore, when walking on the streets of Kang State, everyone smiles when they meet each other, no matter they are strangers or familiar, and everyone is in harmony. It is rare to see a fight happening throughout the year, let alone vicious | incidents such as murder and arson.
Such a prosperous, lively, harmonious and stable place is undoubtedly particularly suitable for living. Qin Mubai now understands why Wu Meiniang went to Kangguo without any trouble. She just wanted that one day in the future, after Qin Mubai retired, his family would move to Kang State, a paradise, to spend their old age.
In the eyes of Kangguo people, business profits are everything. Businessmen all value harmony and harmony brings wealth. Therefore, it is natural that Kangju State, from the king to the people, resisted the war and became quite weak and incompetent militarily.
Qin Mubai walked and thought about it. The nine kingdoms of Zhaowu wanted to unite into one country, which was a good thing for the Tang Dynasty. It is much easier to have a unified big family as a friendly neighbor than to control nine small vassal countries. These nine small countries in the Western Regions, which originated from the same source, all have the same characteristics: they are good at doing business, the country is wealthy, and the military is weak.
Now the people of the Nine Kingdoms have the powerful Kansai Army coming to help, which just complements each other.
This is indeed a great opportunity for the nine countries to form an alliance. Now both sides win. As long as Qin Mubai agrees to do this, they will definitely hit it off.
As Yuan Tiangang said, this is a good thing both for public and private purposes. But Qin Mubai also had some concerns, and the reason was Wu Meiniang.
Looking at the current situation, Wu Meiniang seems to be very keen to be the first and assistant military minister of Kang State. In other words, this woman was not born to be an ordinary person. She has a desire to win that is equal to that of men, and she strives to excel in everything she does.
If she has the throne of Xinkang Kingdom, then with her ability, she can really do it. Otherwise, she would not be the only female emperor in Chinese history who ascended to the throne!
Originally, it didn't matter who became the king of Kang. But precisely because Wu Meiniang was Qin Mubai's wife, and she was the king of the Western Regions with such a sensitive status, what kind of attitude would the Tang Dynasty court have
This possibility cannot be ruled out. In the eyes of the court and Li Shimin, it was actually him, Qin Mubai, who became the king!
Then the nature of the matter has completely changed!
…
Thinking of this, Qin Mubai felt that the matter of unifying the Nine Kingdoms and Wu Meiniang becoming king must be managed carefully. If something goes wrong in the slightest, it may lead to a fight and get burned.
"As a human being, you must never forget your roots!" Qin Mubai took a deep breath and sighed, saying to himself, "With my current strength and prestige, I can indeed separate the Western Regions and establish myself as king, and even establish a kingdom that can compete with the Tang Dynasty. The great empire! ...But I never wanted to betray the Tang Dynasty, I don’t want to be a traitor!”
Back at the military camp, Qin Mubai fell asleep.
Yesterday, he first went to the "bridal chamber" and then went to see Yuan Tiangang. He basically didn't sleep all night. In addition, he had been marching for several days before, so he was really tired.
The generals on the left and right did not dare to disturb him. It was not until the evening when a Kuai Ma secret envoy from Lanzhou came to ask for an audience with Qin Mubai. Mu Bai wakes up.
"A secret envoy from Lanzhou?" Qin Mubai responded in a daze, then suddenly woke up and sat up, "From Lanzhou?—Shout!"
The emissary was called in, and he looked very familiar. He turned out to be a junior colonel who had been in the Xiangzhou Military Mansion before, and was Pang Fei's confidant.
After paying homage, the primary school student hurriedly took out a letter from his arms. Inside was a piece of oiled paper.
This is Baiqi's special "secret letter" paper, which must be soaked in special potion to reveal the writing.
It can be seen from this that what Pang Fei wants to report is indeed a top-secret matter.
Qin Mubai quickly got the potion and read the letter.
The letter was actually very simple. The imperial court urgently summoned King Wu Li Ke to return to the capital. Moreover, not long after Qin Mubai left, Chu Suiliang came to "inspect Lanzhou" with an order, and invited Qin Mubai and Princess Gaoyang to return to Beijing to meet the saint. Since Qin Mubai had already led his army to the Western Regions, Princess Gaoyang had already gone to the capital alone.
Qin Mubai's brows tightened immediately.
"Does General Pang have any more messages for you to lead?" Qin Mubai asked the primary school commander.
The colonel replied: "General Pang said before leaving that he didn't have to worry about Lanzhou. But General Pang really couldn't control the affairs of the court. Also, three days before the final departure, King Wu had already left Luozhou. They arrived in Lanzhou, and they were dressed in simple clothes. Even the Lanzhou officials and generals didn't know about it. If it weren't for King Wu to visit Princess Gaoyang and his nephew and adopted daughter, not even General Pang would know about it. "
"The operation is so top-secret?" Qin Mubai became even more suspicious, "Did King Wu leave the capital privately and return to the capital? No, if he returned to the capital privately, how could he come to my house? Then there is clearly something wrong Give me the feeling of tipping off the news..."
"Did King Wu leave any words?"
"Not a word." The principal replied, "He didn't see Her Royal Highness Princess Gaoyang, so he hugged the prince and played with Xiaolou'er for a while, and then immediately left the city and left Lanzhou. According to people in the young marshal's house, he should be Heading to Chang'an, there were only ten people accompanying her. Mrs. Chen felt that this was unusual, so she asked General Pang to report the matter to the young marshal. "
"Chen Yan has always been careful and alert. It seems that King Wu is very low-key and cautious this time, and he has not revealed a word to my family or Pang Fei." Qin Mubai frowned, thinking for a long time, and suddenly felt shocked. !
"Did General Pang send someone to escort King Wu all the way?!" Qin Mubai suddenly asked.
The principal was frightened, and he quickly replied: "General Pang saw that King Wu deliberately concealed his whereabouts, so it was difficult to attend the meeting. But a general named 'Yin Yang' who accompanied King Wu seemed to be related to him. General Pang was very familiar with him. When King Wu went to the young marshal's house, Yin Yang came to see General Pang in private. The two had been together for a while and King Wu was about to leave, so General Pang secretly sent a group of fifty men. In the name of patrolling Shangyi and arresting fugitives, the guards of the Governor's Palace traveled eastward with King Wu, secretly protecting him along the way. "
"Only fifty people?" Qin Mubai was a little unhappy.
"Don't worry, Young Marshal. They are fifty snow sculptures dressed as ordinary guards of the Governor's Palace. The snow sculptures are the elite among the elites of our Kansai Army. They are all capable of blocking ten with one." The colonel replied quickly.
"Oh, that's pretty much it..." Qin Mubai felt slightly relieved. Pang Fei had always been thoughtful, and now he was becoming more and more experienced in doing things.
The colonel continued: "The general estimates that General Yin Yang must have requested General Pang to be escorted, but it cannot be too obvious. That's why General Pang made such an arrangement. However, our troops can only escort as far as possible. King Wu has arrived in Huizhou!"
"That's right. If our troops go further east and leave the jurisdiction of the Lanzhou Governor's Mansion, it won't be possible. That would be a secret deployment of troops and horses for evil purposes!" Qin Mubai cut his back with his hands and paced back and forth, thinking deeply.
He believed that King Wu Li Ke would definitely not leave Luoche without permission and go to Chang'an. The reason for setting off must be because of a summons from the imperial court, and it was a secret summons. Otherwise, Li Ke wouldn't have to be as cautious as a thief, and no one would dare to disturb him.
However, Li Ke seemed a little worried about the safety of his trip, so he deliberately settled in Lanzhou. He did not dare to ask Lanzhou for guard protection, but he secretly "asked" Pang Fei to send someone to escort him.
In this way, Li Ke's trip was not easy. One is that it is quite top secret, the other is that the mission is important, and the third is that his life is in danger on the way!
Qin Mubai was suddenly shocked: Could it be that the emperor secretly summoned Li Ke back to the capital to establish a heir apparent? !
During the Tang Dynasty, the East Palace had been vacant for more than a year, which was very inappropriate. Now that the war has subsided and everything is peaceful, and the court has no other major issues, the matter of establishing a crown prince is bound to resurface, and it can no longer be avoided!
Although it is not yet known who Li Shimin will appoint as the crown prince, his secret summons of Li Ke back to Beijing shows that Li Ke may be one of the candidates for the crown prince!
Then, it is conceivable that someone will want to kill him on his way back to Beijing! But Li Ke couldn't be too ostentatious and didn't dare to bring too many troops with him. So he had no choice but to travel to Lanzhou to seek protection from Lanzhou.
However, Qin Mubai and Princess Gaoyang were not here at this time. Fortunately, Pang Fei acted cautiously and steadily, which made Qin Mubai somewhat relieved.
This information sent by Pang Fei is very important to Qin Mubai. Thinking about it carefully, Li Ke stopped briefly in Lanzhou on his way back to Beijing. Although it was just a flash of surprise and he didn't leave a single word, he had already conveyed a very important message to Qin Mubai - "I went to Chang'an to gamble my life. take care!"
Compared with the battle for the East Palace of the Tang Dynasty, things like Nurman, the famous food marshal, Zhaowu Jiuguo and Wu Meiniang becoming king, all seem less important.
"Come here!" Qin Mubai called.
"The general is here!" Xiao Xuanwu and Zhu Bancheng entered the tent together to listen to the order.
"Quickly convey my order to Su Dingfang on the front line and order him to send people to negotiate peace with Numan!" Qin Mubai said, "The standard for negotiating peace is that Kang and Dashi will not be vassals to each other, will not pay tribute to each other, and will live together as equals. With the Sam River as the boundary, we will maintain non-invasion and friendly exchanges from now on. If anyone dares to betray the alliance, the Tang Dynasty will attack it with all its 400,000 troops from Kansai."
"yes!"
The two generals agreed at the same time, and the attendant in the recording room on the side quickly wrote down the military orders Qin Mubai said.
"Send a message to Su Dingfang, asking him to give Numan some more specialties from the Central Plains and rare treasures from Kang State, so that he can have a place to go and explain to their emperor when he returns." After that, Qin Mubai took off the bag. A sword hanging on the commander's tent said, "This is the sword that His Majesty the Emperor personally gave to me when I was elected as the Hundred Cavalry Envoy. Take it to Numan. Just tell him that I, Qin, welcome him. Come to Datang as a guest and be willing to make him a friend.”
"Uh..." Generals Xiao and Zhu were both startled and said, "Young Marshal, this is a sword given by His Majesty. It is your beloved thing that you always carry with you. There is no need to use it to please Numan. ? Are we still afraid of him?"
"Don't say anything more. Who have you ever been afraid of, Mr. Qin or the Guanxi Army?" Qin Mubai glared at them coldly and said, "It's just that things are urgent. Now we have no time to pay attention to the cannibals. We must make an alliance as soon as possible." and a truce. Tell Su Dingfang that after the alliance, only the original Kang army will be stationed at the Sam River port, and let him and Yuwen Hongtai lead their troops back to Samajian to join me as soon as possible! "
"Yes!" The second general's expression suddenly became solemn, and his heart was also frightened: the young marshal is concentrating the strength of the Kansai Army. Is there a big battle to be fought in the near future? !
"Don't make wild guesses and spread false news everywhere. When the messenger went to the Sam River, he shouldn't talk nonsense and confuse the morale of the army!" Qin Mubai said sternly, "Those who disobey orders will be severely punished!"
"yes!"
"Go do your business!"
General Xiao Zhu left with his promise. Qin Mubai chatted with Xiao Xiao for a while, learned some about the situation in Lanzhou, and arranged for him to go down to rest.
In Chang'an, there was finally a hint of news.
Although Qin Mubai was thousands of miles away in Samajian, he could already imagine how tense and tense the Chang'an court was at this moment.
At that time, Li Shimin ascended the throne through the Xuanwu Gate Incident, killing his brothers and forcing his father to take the throne. Today, when Li Ke returns to the capital, if the King of Wei in Chang'an does not do something special, then He is no longer the "sinister fat man" that Li Daozong calls him!
Qin Mubai began to worry about Li Ke...