Lu Maofeng had been taken out of the Cold Palace by Yang Fan and received such a courteous reception. He already had a good impression of Yang Fan and felt even more honored to hear of this mission. He finally had a chance to show off his abilities. Without hesitation, he put down his wine cup and saluted Yang Fan. In a clear voice, he said, "General, please be at ease. This general will accomplish this task!"
The Emperor was old and had not even been to the Dragon Gate that he had visited in previous years. Going to the drill grounds to watch the military maneuvers from above was a difficult task. The Emperor had the dignity of an Emperor. How could he lie down on the dragon chair and doze off? Even if the Emperor did not finish watching the entire drill, it would take at least one to four hours.
Not to mention that the Emperor was dressed to the nines to watch the drill before returning to the palace. At the same time, there would be a large number of powerful officials and nobles accompanying him. After the drill ended, in order to celebrate the strength of the country, there would be a banquet in the palace to entertain the officials who had accompanied the Emperor. With Wu Zetian's current age and physical strength, it would be difficult for her to endure such a day.
In the end, Lu Langjiang was a martial man and could not understand the crux of this. He thought this was a flattering move to cater to the Emperor and that the Emperor would gladly agree. Yang Fan knew that this proposal would be refuted by Wu Youyi. At that time, Lu Maofeng would have to ask his backer, the Zhang brothers, to come forward.
Seeing Lu Langjiang readily agree, Yang Fan could already imagine Wu Yizong's expression when he heard of this matter. He laughed and raised his cup to Lu Langjiang. "Come, General Lu, please drink!"
Early the next morning, Lu Maofeng, who had finally found a sense of existence in the thousand cavalry, excitedly rushed to the Featherwood Guard to ask Wu Youyi for instructions. Wu Youyi frowned and said, "This is pure nonsense. His Majesty is old and traveling to and from the army is time-consuming and laborious. If his dragon body is affected, who can bear the burden? Not allowed! "
Wu Youyi sternly refuted and did not allow Lu Maofeng to argue before throwing him out. After Lu Maofeng retreated, Wu Youyi stroked his beard and thought for a moment. Then he smiled and called a guard over. "Go to the Department of Ordnance and tell King Lin Chuan that Yang Fan's thousand cavalry is ready and will inspect the army in a few days. And His Majesty … may personally go out to inspect the army!"
Wu Sizhong, who was on duty in the Department of Ordnance, received the news from Wu Youyi and couldn't help but be startled. He knew very well what kind of junk he had given to Yang Fan. Once the parade began, even if only one thousand cavalry participated, there would be a large number of officials accompanying them.
At that time, Yang Fan would have those thousand cavalry soldiers draped in tattered armor, waving tattered banners, and raising rusty swords and spears in front of the Emperor and the court officials. What kind of expression would his aunt, who had always liked the scene of power and grandeur, have on her face?
Wu Sizhong was frightened and immediately ordered his men to bring a horse and personally went to the Zuo Jinwu camp to find his brother Wu Yizong for a discussion.
After being reprimanded by Wu Youyi, Lu Maofeng left in embarrassment and anger, feeling very dissatisfied. Thinking carefully, if he went back with his face covered in dirt, even if Yang Fan didn't say anything, he was bound to arouse the ridicule of the soldiers who already didn't like him. Lu Maofeng gritted his teeth and turned to go to the Zhang family.
Lu Maofeng was very familiar with the Zhang Family brothers, so as soon as he entered the room he met Zhang Tongxiu and vented his bellyful of grievances. Zhang Tongxiu disapprovingly said, "It's just a small matter, it's not worth mentioning. You wait here, I'll go to the Fengchen prison to see Wulang and Wulang. "
Zhang Tongxiu immediately rode a carriage to the Palace. Now that the two brothers Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong had recruited a group of Jingdou youths, they had their own yamen in the Palace: the Fengchen prison.
These beautiful youths were not only beautiful, they were also talented and learned. In the Fengchen prison, they were equivalent to Wu Zetian's imperial concubines, waiting at any time for the female Emperor to summon them, serve them, and even serve them in bed. Usually they had nothing to do in the Fengchen prison, but they still did some literary and educational work like compiling poems and songs. Of course, most of the time they just held banquets and drank, gambled and played, played zither and sheng, and played cuju for fun.
Zhang Yizhi also gave Zhang Tongxiu, his cousin, a Fengchen prison turtle talisman, just to make it easier for him to enter and leave the Palace. Zhang Tongxiu passed through one door after another with the turtle talisman in his hand. When he arrived at the Fengchen prison, the Zhang brothers were in the hall with a dozen or so beautiful youths, throwing arrows and throwing pots.
Zhang Tongxiu called the two brothers Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong to a small hall on the side and told them the purpose of his visit. Zhang Changzong then said, "What's so difficult about it? Da Xiong, please wait for a moment, Wulang and I are going to see the Saints! "
Right now Wu Zetian's energy was not as good as before, but she still did not let go of the most important military and national affairs. It's just that she did not go to the Hall of Martial Accomplishment to review memorials anymore. Sometimes when Wan 'er sent a memorial, she would only ask the Zhang brothers to read it to her. She would make a general comment, and then the Zhang brothers would write the words in ink. Sometimes when she needed to ask for more details, she would directly summon Wan' er to see her.
Right now she was at the Lovely Spring Stage, listening to Shanghai Wan 'er's military report. This matter involved Tufan, Turkic, and Anxi, all important matters on the border, therefore Wu Zetian did not dare to neglect it lightly. However, among these three matters, two had good results, so when the second Zhang arrived, Wu Zetian had a smile on her face, she was in a very good mood.
Among these three matters, the first was related to Tufan. Several years after Yang Fan planted the seeds of suspicion and jealousy between the Tufan's King and Prime Minister, the seeds finally blossomed and bore fruit. Tufan's Zanpu finally could not stand the Great Minister's domineering manner. He used a trick to lure the tiger away from the mountain. After the Great Minister, Lun Qinling, left the capital, he captured more than two thousand of his trusted aides in one fell swoop.
When Lun Qinling heard the news, he raised his troops and rebelled. Unfortunately, the Tufan people had a strong belief in the Heavenly Mandate of the Monarch. His trusted aides in the capital were eliminated in one fell swoop, the soldiers around him were afraid of the Monarch's order and did not dare to fight. The Tufan God of War, Lun Qinling, was defeated and committed suicide.
When the Tufan's Zanpu heard the news, he was furious and sent Qu Mangpoje, who had made great contributions during the coup and had just been promoted to Great General, to attack the Imperial Court. Seeing the strength of the Tufan's troops, the border troops were initially very afraid. In the end, Tang Xiujing, who had passed the imperial examinations and was born a Confucian scholar, saw through the Tufan's real situation with one glance.
He said to the generals, "Lun Qinling and the other Tufan generals have just been swept clean. Qu Mangpoje is a new Great General and has no experience in military affairs. The sons of the noble officials are his Deputy Generals. Although they look well-equipped and seem to be elites, they cannot withstand a single blow." As a result, they wore armor and rode horses as the vanguard. They won six battles and the Tufan army was defeated. The Zhou army beheaded more than one thousand five hundred soldiers and captured two Tufan Deputy Generals.
In addition, in the four towns of Anxi, a tribal leader of the Western Turkic Khaganate rebelled against the Imperial Court and wanted to establish himself. The Great General guarding Anxi, Tian Yangming, sent troops to suppress them but was defeated. Then he joined forces with Huseluo, who had rushed to Suiye to be the garrison, to attack the cities occupied by the rebels. But they still found it difficult to conquer and the two sides were in a deadlock.
In the end, Bo Lu thought himself clever and in order to break the deadlock, he pretended to surrender and tried to catch the Zhou army off guard. Unexpectedly, the Zhou army's Imperial Censor Feng Siye saw through his trick and pretended to surrender while setting up an ambush. Bo Lu was killed on the spot and the remnants of his troops surrendered.
If not for the Eastern Turks' insatiable greed and the fact that they had received so many valuable gifts from the Imperial Court, as well as the fact that they had sent troops to pillage several horse farms set up by the Imperial Court in Longyou, taking away more than ten thousand official horses, Wu Zetian would have been even happier at this moment.
Zhang Yizhi was more shrewd than his younger brother. When he saw the smile on Wu Zetian's face, he hurriedly indicated to his brother that he should not be in a hurry to explain his intentions. Instead, he happily stepped forward and said to Wu Zetian, "What great event has happened for the Holy Sage to be so happy?"
Wan 'er smiled and told them about the defeat of the Tufan army and the pacification of the rebellion in Anxi. The two brothers hurriedly congratulated the Emperor. Wu Zetian regretfully sighed and said, "It is a pity that Mochu is so arrogant and has repeatedly invaded our court. The court can only passively defend and let him come and go, unable to do anything about it."
Zhang Yizhi's eyes turned and he said, "The defeat of the Tufan army and the pacification of the rebellion in Anxi is enough to show the might of the Imperial Court. The Turks are also not the Imperial Court's match. It's just that they are sitting on the vast desert which is ten thousand li wide. If the Imperial Court sends out troops to suppress them, they can hide in the desert and the expedition will take a long time. It will only waste money and food, but it won't be effective. The Holy Sage takes pity on the strength of the people and thus allowed them to be arrogant for a while. "
As Zhang Yizhi said this, a smile appeared on Wu Zetian's face. Zhang Yizhi took the opportunity to say, "A few days ago the Holy Sage issued an edict to establish the Thousand Cavalry. Today the Thousand Cavalry has just been established. The General of the Thousand Cavalry, Yang Fan, is preparing the horses and soldiers, drilling day and night. He hopes that on the day the horses and soldiers are completed, the Holy Sage will personally come to the drill ground to inspect the three armies. Zhang Yizhi thought that since the victory of the Tufan army, the pacification of Anxi, and the harassment of the Turks, there is no harm for the Holy Sage to agree to come down and inspect the three armies. Not only will the defeat of the Tufan army and pacify the rebellion in Anxi, it will also be a magnificent sight to raise the military's might and boost the morale of the army to scare the Turks. "
As soon as Wan 'er heard him mention Yang Fan, she immediately paid attention. Wu Zetian frowned and strangely said, "Oh, Yang Fan wants to invite me to inspect the troops? Is there such a thing? How come I don't know about it? "As she said this, she looked at Wan 'er. Wan' er immediately bowed and said," Wan 'er also knows nothing about this. "
Zhang Changzong immediately said, "Of course I don't know. General Yang's idea was rejected by Great General Wu. Changzong also happened to hear about it from a friend in the army. Otherwise, I wouldn't know anything about it."
Wu Zetian's brows slightly relaxed. She said, "Oh, Youyi rejected it? He must have his reasons for doing so. I will ask him another day. "
Zhang Yizhi said with a smile, "Holy Sage need not ask. I have already inquired about the reason why Great General Wu rejected the idea. Great General Wu is worried that the Holy Sage's body won't be able to take the inspection …"
Wu Zetian's face immediately darkened. She said with displeasure, "Am I so old that I don't even have the strength to inspect my own troops?"
Zhang Yizhi was shocked. He quickly knelt down and apologized, "Please forgive me, Holy Sage. I have misspoken."
Wu Zetian snorted coldly. She flicked her sleeve and said, "Tell Wu Youyi that I approve of the inspection!"
Zhang Yizhi quickly kowtowed and said, "Your subject accepts the decree!"
Before long, a young Young Master in light robes and a jade belt, a hairpin with flowers on his head, a face powdered, immaculately dressed, and a pair of wooden clogs on his feet. He was like a flamboyant peacock as he swaggered to appear before the Featherwood Guard's gate, and he said arrogantly, "His Majesty's verbal decree, Wu Youyi receives the decree!"
Wu Youyi changed into his military uniform and invited the angel into the tent to listen to the imperial decree. When the young man from the Fengchen Guard finished reading the Emperor's oral decree, he respectfully asked, "When does Your Majesty plan to go to the Thousand Horsemen Camp to inspect and observe the battle? This subject can prepare early."
The young man with a flower hairpin curled his scarlet lipstick and said, "Perhaps tomorrow, perhaps the day after tomorrow. Who can say for sure? It's all up to His Majesty's will. Great General, please wait!" Finished speaking, he flicked his sleeve and swaggered away again.
Wu Youyi straightened his back and shook his head with a wry smile. "They came so quickly! This time, the Lord of Hanoi and the Lord of Lin Chuan are going to suffer! "
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