long friend

That night, Marquis Pingyuan and General Su Zhi of Fuguo went to the place where the Turks were imprisoned.Perhaps 15 years ago, the Turkic tribal alliance was ravaged by the Xiaoqi guards and cried for their father and mother. When the guards reported, "This is our General Su", the leading Turkic man suddenly softened his feet.

With a wave of his hand, the general asked the lieutenant next to him, Shen Chengjun.

This person is gentle and gentle, always smiling, gentle and kind, always suitable for this kind of communication work.But everyone in Xiaoqiwei knows that Shen Chengjun is a standard smiling tiger. The things he is best at in his life are first stabbing a soft knife, and the second is to sue the villain first after stabbing a soft knife.Among the four lieutenants, he is the youngest, and he is also the most difficult to deal with.Over the years, Shen Chengjun's reputation in the army has been very bad, and he has even surpassed the general himself.

Shen Chengjun understood Su Zhi's meaning and let him quietly be the mascot of a stick of incense.After the Turkic man fell to the ground with a plop, and his tears flowed all over him, the entire prison was dead silent, as if the air had frozen.

Shen Chengjun tremblingly said: "You... what did you say? Huyantong is dead?"

The Turkic Khan Huyantong, who once gathered nine Turkic tribes, fought all the way to Qingguang County, and Su Zhi, you and me, and lost troops for several years, died suddenly?

Discussions broke out after a brief silence, and everyone whispered to each other, as if they were entangled in the future for the general.Su Yan looked at his father, who looked calm, and said to Turkic: "Go on."

"Khan is getting old. He fell ill last winter and has not recovered. This summer, the north is suddenly hot. Khan--" the Turkic man choked up when he said this, "according to the rules of our tribe, The father died, and the son wanted to go back no matter what he said. At this juncture, the eldest prince refused to submit a letter to the emperor of Liang to send the second prince back. The queen couldn't stand it, so we came here in secret..."

Others present couldn't understand his sadness. After a moment of silence, Su Zhi turned his head and said, "This is a big matter, Cheng Jun, you take Su Yan on a trip in person, and you must face the saint directly. Zhang Li, take a team People and horses, enter Jinling with them, go to the residence of the Turkic hostage, so that you can take care of them. The other two, take your generals and tell the Xuzhou prefect to transfer back to the garrison to the east, gather at any time, and prepare to go elsewhere."

Shen Chengjun asked a lot: "Marshal, where are you going?"

Su Zhi glanced at him, with contempt written all over his face.Without saying a word, he got up and left.When the night wind was blowing, seeing that Shen Chengjun was still at a loss, Su Yan reminded him: "...to the north."

Shen Chengjun shuddered, and tentatively said: "Huyantong is dead, and the commander wants to kill them all?"

Su Yan looked at him as if he was looking at an idiot, suspecting that this person's usual good looks disappeared for a short time: "General Shen, who is not of my race, must have a different heart. Hu Yantong has become a minister, and his successor has not yet been determined. Maybe you will pay tribute to Daliang obediently in the future, what do you think?"

With a single word to wake up the dreamer, Shen Chengjun suddenly realized, he was downcast, and felt that he was no better than a child who had never been to the battlefield, and he really deserved to be beaten.

The blood debts of the past hundred years have been piled up, how can one or two generations be able to draw a conclusion?

The night sky outside Xuzhou City is clear, and you can see the Geng Geng Galaxy when you look up.After everyone fell asleep, there were no other lights except professional soldiers who were lighting torches.

The next day, the Xiaoqi Guards sent more than a dozen people disguised as ordinary rotation soldiers, and the soldiers returned to Jinling in two groups.

Shen Chengjun held the seal of the general, and rushed straight into Taicheng to report the changes in the north during the great court meeting, while Zhang Li sent people to guard the residence of the Turkic proton early.At the same time, Su Zhi released the news that he had detained the Turkic prince's cronies.

Turkic Khan died suddenly for many days, but he never told Daliang.Although the old and new enmities between the two countries are still present, peace is still maintained in the open, and Turkic is silent on such a big matter. Even though Emperor Xiao Yandang has some criticisms, it is not easy to explode.Su Yan stayed in Jinling for a few more days, and finally waited for the Turkic envoy who rushed over after hearing the news.

Later, on the day Su Yan heard that the envoy asked to return the Turkic prince, Prime Minister Zuo first reprimanded the envoy for not paying attention to Shangguo, and then the Taifu scolded Prime Minister Zuo for being short-sighted and only seeing superficial benefits. Each played [-] boards to persuade the emperor not to let the tiger go back to the mountain. General Shen was busy with the mud...

Xiao Qichen yawned, and said to Su Yan: "Father was tired in the end, so he called Brother Yu to continue listening for him, and hid back to the west hall for a rest."

Su Yan sat opposite him, poured tea for Xiao Qichen, and said, "You worked hard too."

It is rare for him to return to Jinling in a legitimate way. Although it is an official business, Shen Chengjun is in charge of everything. It is not his turn to give orders, so Su Yan is happy to have a leisurely time. He simply finds a way to pass a note to Xiao Qichen, asking him to talk about it in the Yanyu Building in the west of Jinling City after the court meeting .

Goodbye to Xiao Qichen, Su Yan felt that he seemed to have changed a bit, but he couldn't say it clearly, it seemed that he was not as gloomy as before, Xindao really left Mingfu Palace, which would be good for Xiao Qichen.

After listening to the other party's chatter, Su Yan grasped the point keenly, and asked in doubt: "Your Majesty attaches great importance to King Zhao?"

"It's important to pay attention to it, but the attitude is still ambiguous." Xiao Qichen picked up a candied date from the plate and ate it. He still couldn't change the habit of being greedy when he was a child. He insisted on eating something when chatting. , asked me how I was reading, how I was used to living, where I wanted to go, and seemed to be very interested in me all of a sudden, which made me panic all day long."

Su Yan sighed, "Isn't it good to treat everyone equally?"

Xiao Qichen gave him a peanut, and said to himself: "From the perspective of others, this may be a kind father, son, filial piety, and brotherly respect, which are rare in the Tian family, but the more he is like this 'wet the rain and the dew', the more unhappy Brother Yu will be."

Zhao Wang Xiao Qiyu, since Xiao Qiping went blind back then, he has pretended to be the East Palace.In the year of Lizhi, there were two sons and one daughter in the family. Since he is the eldest son and has made military exploits, he should be the best choice for the crown prince no matter how you look at it.Xiao Yan has been silent all this time. After two or three years, Xiao Qiyu can still deceive himself and others, saying that he is testing himself...

But in a blink of an eye, even Xiao Qichen, who he always looked down upon, was almost on an equal footing with him.

"Does Your Majesty have his own considerations?"

Xiao Qichen sneered when he heard the words: "Press the gourd to float the ladle, how can there be such a good thing? If he forces me down again, the Four Books and Five Classics will be read in turn every day, maybe brother Yu will think that I want to lift his seat —I'm not going to make trouble for myself."

After speaking, Xiao Qichen seemed to have thought of the ominous future, and took a sip of tea with a sigh of relief.Looking up and seeing Su Yan looking at him with a complicated face, Xiao Qichen coughed twice, and changed the subject stiffly: "...don't mention this, I'll talk about it later. I heard them arguing all morning today, what happened?"

Su Yan was led by the nose by him, and immediately forgot the unspoken hatred of iron and steel, and sternly said, "The Turkic Khan is dead. The eldest son wants to seize the throne and prevent his younger brother from returning to the country, so he kept his funeral in secret. The mother is partial to her son who is far away from home, and feels that after losing the good opportunity, she will never be able to return to Turkic in this life, so she sent someone to ask for someone from the Emperor of Nanliang, but he was caught before he even reached Jinling," said the story.

He spoke slowly, with a serious expression on his face, Xiao Qichen knew what had happened after listening to it once, and felt that he had gained more than he had gained in the morning.

After Su Yan finished speaking, he drank a cup of tea with dry mouth.Then the two looked at each other and silently reached a consensus with their eyes. They both thought that this was not something they could decide on.

The old friend reunited after half a year, and he wanted to say more than a thousand words.In the private conversation between the two, Su Yan did not mention that letter.He didn't say it, but Xiao Qichen tacitly seemed to have forgotten it, as if there had never been a pair of plum blossoms drawn by hand between them because they missed it late at night.

"...Do you still remember Brother Han Guang?" Xiao Qichen suddenly mentioned a name.

Su Yan froze for a moment, nodded and said, "It was His Highness's companion reading back then, I remember it."

Xiao Qichen moved from the position opposite him to next to Su Yan, and lowered his voice: "On the fifteenth day of last month, I went to see him at Brother Ping's house, and I saw Brother Han there. He is now in Yangzhou. Concubine, I came here from Yangzhou to visit. Seeing that he hesitated to speak, I deliberately asked him to meet in private, but unexpectedly I really wanted to say something."

Su Yan was so annoyed by this man's ostentatious tricks, he stuffed a candied date into Xiao Qichen's mouth: "Don't make trouble, talk about it after eating, don't talk about it."

Throwing him a sharp look, Xiao Qichen swallowed the candied dates, and mumbled in Su Yan's ear: "He said what happened back then, and he never gave up on the investigation. He already has clues about who ordered the little eunuch to poison Brother Ping."

When Xiao Qichen spoke, he exhaled moist hot air, which was blown into his cochlea. One half of Su Yan's body softened because of this movement, but the other half regained consciousness as if struck by lightning.

He unbelievably raised the volume: "Who is it?!"

Xiao Qichen retracted to the side and gnawed another peanut innocently: "Brother Han is still collecting evidence. He is really loyal to Brother Ping. If this person can be used by me, it will be a good thing. I have to find a way... ..."

He slipped his tongue for a while, but when he found out, he stopped suddenly. Facing Su Yan's teasing expression, Xiao Qichen bit the bullet and said, "What are you doing?"

"Your Highness has great ambitions, and you still want to hide it from me?" Su Yan said this with a playful smile, and before Xiao Qichen could answer, he said to himself, "Maybe it's better not to be noticed by King Zhao, so keep a low profile , may be able to compete for that seat after many years... Is that what you think?"

Xiao Qichen blinked, laughed and said: "If you didn't encourage me, I wouldn't have thought of so much."

Su Yan shook his head and said, "You are not someone who is content with the status quo, and neither am I."

"Does what you said before that still count?"

He was taken aback for a moment, and then remembered his "heartfelt words" after he lost his mind that day. They were too impulsive, but every word came from the heart. It is better to be honest than to deny self-righteousness.Su Yan lowered his eyes and said in a steady voice, "Everything I said counts. Whatever you want, as long as I can do it, I will give it to you."

Xiao Qichen pursed his lips, showing a strange look on Su Yan: "...What if I also want the world?"

The corners of the lips raised slyly, and those slightly round almond eyes, which look innocent at any time, are unavoidable.At this time, the setting sun was setting on the western mountain, and the golden light was shining from the window of the Yanyu Building. Xiao Qichen was sitting in the backlight, and his tear mole was red, adding a bit of strangeness to his life, and he waited for an answer unwillingly.

Su Yan's eyes paused on his face for a long time, those bold and reckless thoughts scrambled out, holding his reason with claws and teeth.Su Yan felt that Xiao Qichen seemed to be particularly able to play tricks on people's hearts, but he knew it well and willingly stood beside Xiao Qichen.

When I was bullied when I was young, I immediately went to sue the coquettish child, the sullen boy who hid in the drinking horse pond, was beaten to pieces while kneeling in the Mingfu Palace, and remained calm when he was treated coldly...

The person who said "I have no intention of fighting with him" back then is now coveting the world.

After all, he underestimated Xiao Qichen.But it seemed that only Xiao Qichen like this made him feel more real, and felt that "it should be so".Su Yan didn't ask Xiao Qichen when he had this idea, but just mentioned it casually.

After all, he just looked away quickly, and Su Yan said lightly: "What's so difficult about this, are you inferior to King Zhao?"

After Turkic Khan died of illness, whether to return the prince or not, there was a two-day quarrel in the Tai Chi Hall. In the end, Xiao Yan decided to send someone to send him back to the royal court in the north, and made an agreement with the proton Huyantu that if he could successfully sit on the throne of the Khan Therefore, the two countries should continue to be good friends.

This decision was completely different from what Marquis Ping Yuan advocated to "take this opportunity to wipe out the Turks in one fell swoop", and Su Zhi's deployment to gradually advance northward also failed.But the king's order cannot be violated, Su Zhi still transferred a hundred masters from Xiaoqiwei, and personally escorted Huyantu back to Turkic despite everyone's opposition.

In the autumn of the 30th year of Tongning, Nanliang sent back Huyantu, the second prince of Turkic, and supported him to succeed him.Under the orders of the emperor, Xiaoqiwei joined forces with the Turkic Khan's personal guards for the first time reluctantly and exiled the eldest prince.

After Su Zhi settled the matter, he did not return to Jinling as planned, but stayed at Yunmen Pass to strengthen the border defense.Zhang Li temporarily took over the mobilization power of Xiaoqiwei, and most of the troops were transferred to Yanmen and Yunmen passes, only one stayed in Jinling, and the command position was unexpectedly handed over to Su Yan, with Shen Chengjun as his deputy.

There was another quarrel in the court because of this, one side said that it was absurd to let a boy who had just passed his haircut be in charge of the Xiao cavalry guards, and the other side sneered, Ping Yuanhou had done meritorious service on the battlefield back then.When the quarrel made people's headaches and brains feverish, Xiao Yan issued another order that disturbed the situation suddenly.

Xiao Qichen, the sixth son of the emperor, entered the Guozijian, studied under Zeng Xu, and went to the court to discuss politics.

From "listening to politics" to "discussing politics", Zhao Wang Xiao Qiyu took three years, but Xiao Qichen only took six months.There is a difference of one word, but the prince's discussion of politics is usually after the crowning of the king.Listening to politics is just learning, but discussing politics is to encourage the prince to participate in state affairs. Now that the position of the crown prince is vacant, Xiao Yan's move is really puzzling.

The sixth prince has been unknown for many years, and after the death of his mother and concubine, he was left out in the cold. Many people felt that His Majesty had completely disliked him. Now that he has not been crowned king, he has started to enjoy the treatment of a prince!

When the imperial edict arrived at Chenglan Hall, even Xiao Qichen himself was taken aback.

After receiving the imperial edict and carefully reading it several times, Xiao Qichen still looked at a loss, and asked: "Eunuch Xu, what's the matter, father?"

Xu Zhengde wrinkled his old face with a smile, only saying that he didn't dare to speculate on the holy will, and left politely.

Xiao Qichen couldn't figure it out. When he went to the Imperial College the next day, he asked Zeng Xu, "Teacher, I'm usually too useless. Father can't stand it. Do you have to drive ducks to the shelves like this? How much does he hate me?" , so I was given to Zhao Wang as a living target, for fear that Zhao Wang would not be able to take aim?"

Zeng Xu took it for granted that this person often uttered deceitful words, so he twirled his beard and handed Xiao Qichen a stack of "University", and said leisurely: "Your Highness, do you still remember when I accompanied His Highness the King of Chu to bid farewell the day before the court hearing? , what did you say?"

There was a sharp bird song outside the window, and Xiao Qichen suddenly had a flash of inspiration and remembered.

"I know that the father is also helpless. This time, he should be the saddest person to abolish the crown prince. After all, we all know that the third rule of the king is to love the people, respect the people, and reward the virtuous. Dare I ask what His Royal Highness Zhao has achieved? ?”

Xiao Qiping was amused by him, and said: "You can only talk about it, you can't even enter the Tai Chi Hall."

Xiao Qichen pursed his lips and said, "I'm omnipotent but not an official. Father thinks I'm useless."

Recalling the sudden break, Xiao Qichen's breath was choked in his throat, and Zeng Xu mercilessly gave him the last blow: "That day, His Majesty was outside, and he heard His Highness's rebellious words. Clearly."

Xiao Qichen: "..."

He has been emperor for nearly 30 years. From the very beginning, he was ambitious, but now he is somewhat powerless.Born at this time, the carefully cultivated Chu Jun had no choice but to lose power. The eldest son was too hostile, but he didn't want to go to the Imperial College by chance, but Xiao Yan heard the words of the youngest son who had always been coaxed by the pistachio.

What he said was not entirely correct, the youthful spirit and untimely arrogance contained in it just hit Xiao Yan.

He began to think about whether he had forgotten Xiao Qichen for too long, and that the little boy in his childhood had an underappreciated talent.Xiao Yan thought and thought, and after half a year's assessment, he was given a chance in advance.

Didn't you say "incompetent and unofficial"?Then let people see if they can do it.