Chapter 401 Playing Chess

The Tao River is a tributary of the Yellow River. It is called "Luqu" in Tubo, which means the water of the God of Lu. It was also called "Lushui" in ancient times.

In the Mohuanchuan of the Tao River, a camp rose from the ground and became the garrison of the Shence Army.

It was cold and freezing, with heavy snowfall, making it extremely difficult to drive wooden stakes into the ground, and the low wind could easily blow down the tent. The soldiers who were tired and rested in the tent after a long day had no choice but to get up and set up the tent again, but they always failed.

Slip and fall on icy ground.

This border defense force, which guards the northwest, has been tempered by the wind and frost outside the Great Wall since its founding.

Ge Shuhan and Cheng Ruqiu were walking in the wind and snow, inspecting the situation in the military camp.

"This year I established eight new armies in Chuihe and Taoyang counties: Ningbian, Weisheng, Jintian, Wuning, Yaowu, Tiancheng, Zhenwei, Shence, and so on. Do you know why?"

"Without the garrison, our victory over Tibet will only be temporary." Cheng Ruqiu said, "Jie Commander hopes that the border defense will be stable and end the back-and-forth situation with Tibet."

Ge Shuhan sighed: "I am old and in poor health. I can't stay in the frontier for a few more years. I really don't hope that after I leave, the nine bends of the Yellow River that I have finally recovered over the years will return to the hands of Tubo."

"No." Cheng Ruqiu said: "If what Yan Zhenggong is doing is successful, the border stability will be guaranteed for at least ten years."

"If you want stability, you can't expect the enemy to chaos. You must train this army well and become a pillar of the Tang Dynasty's frontier."

"Commander Jie, don't worry. Although the Shence Army has few soldiers and horses, each of its soldiers and generals has been personally selected by me. They will become a brave army."

Ge Shuhan was still satisfied with Cheng Ruqiu's ability in military training. He looked at it for a while and turned it back to his account.

A young general immediately stepped forward and reported, "Commander Jie, the official document from Shanzhou has arrived."

Ge Shuhan didn't like to deal with documents, and most of them were left to his staff. Therefore, he was very interested in recruiting staff. He once hoped to invite Xue Bai and Gao Shi to the Longyou shogunate. Of course, his staff are not bad now.

Many military affairs were arranged very properly. As for some personal letters, Ge Shuhan needed to read them in person.

He flipped through it and saw Li Guangbi's letter. He picked it up immediately. After reading it carefully, his face gradually darkened.

"Jie Shuai, what happened?"

"Everyone else, please step aside and bring us a jug of wine."

Ge Shuhan trusted Cheng Ruqiu very much. After everyone else had left, he said after careful consideration: "Li Guangbi arrived at Shuofang, and An Sishun wanted to marry his daughter to him. He couldn't refuse, so he had to pretend to be ill and resign."

"That's true." Cheng Ruqiu suddenly felt funny and said, "If you don't want to marry, you won't marry. Does such a trivial matter need to go so far as to pretend to be sick and resign?"

"Yes." Ge Shuhan took a sip of wine and asked seriously: "Why do you need to make trouble to the point of pretending to be sick and resigning?"

A repeated sentence has a different meaning because of his solemn expression.

Cheng Ruqiu suppressed the smile on her face, thought for a while, and said, "What does Jie Shuai mean?"

"I have long said that An Sishun appears to be loyal and kind, but actually has ulterior motives." Ge Shuhan did not hide his disgust and said: "The An brothers are both treacherous and loyal people, and now Li Guangbi finally sees it.

Already."

"This...seems arbitrary."

Cheng Ruqiu is Ge Shuhan's absolute confidant, but to be fair to him, he also feels that Ge Shuhan has wronged An Sishun, because the two have had a feud a long time ago, and An Sishun's connivance will shake Ge Shuhan.

In order to gain the prestige, Ge Shuhan killed An Sishun's generals, so they always had a grudge against each other.

In this case, just because Li Guangbi pretended to be ill and resigned to reject An Sishun's marriage, it was more like accusing An Sishun of having different intentions.

He can't even look down on his own people.

"Arbitrary?" Ge Shuhan was very sure, saying: "Li Guangbi must have felt threatened, so he pretended to be ill and asked me for help."

He made his own judgment and paced, thinking about how to deal with the matter. He thought that Li Guangbi must not be allowed to stay in Shuofang and that he should try to rescue him. However, he had always had a problem with An Sishun, so he rashly came forward.

, but An Sishun should be alert.

While thinking, he suddenly thought of someone and said, "Bring a pen and paper."

Soon, Ge Shuhan wrote a letter and went straight to recruit two soldiers and ordered: "You change horses but not people. Use the post stations along the way to hurry up and send this letter to Chang'an to Xue, the man of Zhongshushe."

white."

"Here!"

After taking the letter, the two fast horses quickly disappeared into the wind and snow and ran towards Chang'an.

~~

Chang'an.

Because the recommendation of Li Guangbi as the deputy envoy of Hedong Jiedu failed, Xue Bai was very disappointed and had been thinking about other candidates.

He originally paid attention to Wang Sili, the military envoy to Guanxi and the army to Heyuan, but Wang Sili was Ge Shuhan's confidant and favorite general. He leaned on his arm and was burdened with many military affairs. Ge Shuhan refused to let him go.

Xue Bai also had his eye on another candidate, Gao Xianzhi, who had just been defeated in the Battle of Talos.

Regarding the defeat of Talos, Xue Bai's view was somewhat different from that of others in the court. He did not think that this was a battle that had a great impact on the situation, nor did he underestimate Gao Xianzhi's combat ability. Of course, such as Wang Zhongsi

As I said a long time ago, Gao Xianzhi's long-term fraudulent methods have indeed greatly affected his prestige in Anxi. The northeastern border, which is full of fraud, is actually a suitable place for Gao Xianzhi to make a comeback.

But there are other difficulties. For example, with Gao Xianzhi's qualifications, it is obviously impossible to appoint only one deputy envoy to Hedong Jiedu; for example, Gao Xianzhi has not yet returned to Chang'an; for example, how much effect can he have by taking the post in a hurry?

It's something to think about and consider.

Using the world as a chessboard and names as chess pieces sounds very majestic, but it is not easy to do. At least Xue Bai, a member of the Zhongshu family, is not yet qualified to be a chess player. Many times, he even coaxes

He deceived Yang Guozhong into playing chess for him.

"Lang Jun, Yang Guozhong has sent someone to summon you again."

There was a knock on the door outside the study. Xue Bai came back from his thoughts, picked up the dossier recording Gao Xianzhi's resume and stood up.

He is going to play chess under Yang Guozhong's hand again.

The weather was getting colder and colder, and charcoal fires were set up in many places in Yang's house, but there was no stove in the lobby. Because Yang Guozhong didn't like to smell the smoke, he added many fat maids to keep warm, and enthusiastically asked them to surround Xue Bai as well.

Warming.

"There are too many people talking, so let's let them all go down." Xue Bai once again rejected the offer, because he thought the air was too turbid with too many people.

"Hey, you just think of them as a screen. How can the screen reveal our conversation?"

"If things are not done secretly, there will be nothing to talk about."

Yang Guozhong had no choice but to drive everyone out. He put on a snow-white mink cloak and looked very graceful and noble. He said casually: "God damn it, eating dog intestines. I checked, and sure enough I found Zhang Bian and Chen Xilie."

Two old beasts teamed up to take my position!"

Xue Bai had already guessed that it was Yang Guozhong who reminded him of this matter.

He was not Yang Guozhong's adviser. This reminder was a gift from him, but he was not responsible for solving the problem and only asked for a gift in return.

"What's the relationship between brother and Gao Xianzhi?"

"Not good." Yang Guozhong replied simply: "The Korean slaves are not easy to get along with."

There were many Hu generals in the Tang Dynasty. Ge Shuhan and Li Guangbi were also Hu generals, but Yang Guozhong would not call them contemptuous names. Gao Xianzhi was an aristocratic family in Goguryeo. His family had served the Tang Dynasty during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty. It can be called a family of generals.

, naturally he is not a Korean slave, but he is often scolded by officials and colleagues, which obviously has a lot to do with his character.

Xue Bai was not familiar with Gao Xianzhi, so he could figure it out from some of the deeds he heard. For example, after wiping out the Xiaobolu Kingdom, he bypassed his immediate superior, Fu Meng Lingcha, and directly reported his merits. This was a big deal in officialdom.

Gao Xianzhi was not only unashamed, but also took away the post of military governor of the four towns from Fumeng Lingcha; for example, he did not get along well with many of his colleagues in the Anxi army, and called the deputy governor Cheng Qianli a bitch;

For example, he had no credibility and deceived his generals, King Xiaobolu, and King Shi.

Speaking of which, Yang Guozhong also has a very bad personal character. It would be strange if these two people could get along well.

"That Gao Linu is just like you and me." It was rare that Yang Guozhong actually praised Gao Xianzhi first and said, "Do you know how he is the same as us?"

"Love to lie?" Xue Bai replied casually.

"Move forward."

Yang Guozhong snorted coldly and said: "Korinu is obsessed with fame and will do anything to achieve merit. That's all, but he is not like us who know how to consider others. He is very arrogant and arrogant."

After that, he complained endlessly, saying that when Gao Xianzhi had just destroyed the Xiaobolu Kingdom and returned to the court to pay tribute, he looked down upon others and did not give him a good look. He also said that after he became the prime minister, he sent people to win over Gao Xianzhi, but was ridiculed.

A meal like this.

Xue Bai still put forward his idea, saying: "Some people appear to be harmless, but in reality they are wild and ambitious. Some people appear to be arrogant and untamed, but in reality they are temperamental. Who is our enemy at the moment, and who can be exploited?

Allies, brother will not be confused."

"I just can't tell the difference!" Yang Guozhong said loudly in a rogue tone: "I am also a temperamental person, and there is no reason to support my mortal enemy."

Xue Bai said: "An Lushan has promised to go back to pay homage to the prime minister and is about to leave. So, no matter whether the saint wants to replace him as Fan Yang or Pinglu Jiedushi, he will leave his post now. My brother proposed a

The candidate to succeed him is reasonable."

"It's not that I haven't thought about it." Yang Guozhong touched his chin and said slowly: "But wouldn't this go against the saint's wish to leave a mixed beard in Fan Yang's office?"

Xue Bai said: "General Gao knows the saint's thoughts, and Zhang Bian knows them, but they haven't told you. How can you know them?"

"No matter how good the reason is, what's the use? If the saint is dissatisfied with me, why should I care about this?"

It has to be said that Yang Guozhong was very dedicated in serving Li Longji and thought extremely thoughtfully.

But he also knew that what Xue Bai said was reasonable, and now it was worth taking some risks and recommending someone to replace Fan Yang and Pinglu Jiedushi.

So, before Xue Bai could speak again to persuade him, he already said: "Okay, I will go and give advice to the saint according to your wishes."
To be continued...