The rest of the people are waiting here, Cao Yanlu, you stay in the main hall, no one is allowed to leave until we come back."

....

In Qingxi Palace, Cao Yijin was sitting on the bed. When everyone came in, he rolled his eyes a few times. It was not until he saw that the three brothers Cao Yuande were there that he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Even Aunt Fourteen was alarmed. Aunt, please forgive my nephew for not being able to stand up and salute."

Cao Yijin first accused Zhang Li, and then turned his attention to Zhang Zhao without looking at anyone else.

"Zhang Erlang, my uncle will die soon!"

Zhang Zhao looked at Cao Yijin, but in just over four years, King Tuoxi of the Guiyi Army had lost the luster of his life.

His black hair four years ago has almost turned gray, and the aura of a prince has long since disappeared, leaving only his old age.

The slightly crooked corners of his mouth and his speech were somewhat blurred, indicating that he had indeed suffered a stroke, but it might not have been serious.

"Everyone is mortal! My nephew will also die one day. My uncle will keep a home for Gua Sha Tang'er in danger in this life, and he will definitely be reincarnated into a prosperous age in the next life."

Zhang Zhao still admired Cao Yijin very much. Half of the capital he started his business was donated by Cao Yijin, so he can be regarded as Zhang Zhao's benefactor.

"You are not afraid of life and death. Others advised me that I would get better soon. Only you said that I was about to enter reincarnation."

A smile bloomed on Cao Yijin's gray face. Facing Zhang Zhao, he was actually more relaxed than facing his own son.

"Do you still remember the agreement between you and me?"

Zhang Zhao nodded, "Of course my nephew will remember that on the day we return to our motherland, my nephew will carry the coffin to send my uncle back to Qiao County for burial. In front of the tomb, he will carve a stele and write a letter: "The Great Tang Gu Zhong, Hexi Longyou Jiedu Envoy"

, Duke Cao, the prince of Qiaojun, taboos about the tomb of Jin'"

"You know me!" Cao Yijin raised his right hand with difficulty and pointed at Zhang Zhao.

"Hearing about the great things you did in Anxi, I feel very happy. Finally, I will wait for Tang'er in Hexi until the sky is clear. I always wanted to visit Chang'an, but I thought about it when I was young, but I still haven't gone there when I am old!"

Speaking of this, Cao Yijin suddenly became very disappointed, and the deathly gray-white color on his face became more and more obvious.

"Why weren't you, Zhang Erlang, born a few decades earlier? If you had been the governor of the rebel army after the Taibao Gong, we would have returned to our motherland long ago.

A certain Cao Yijin was probably born into a noble family in Chang'an, and he did not have to live in Guasha like he is now, and he still had to see the human tragedy of mother, son and brother killing each other in his hospital bed!"

"Father, Yuande is unfilial! Protect your body!" Cao Yuande finally couldn't hold himself any longer and fell to his knees with a thud.

However, Cao Yijin twisted his neck and looked in another direction, not looking at Cao Yuande on the ground, nor at Cao Yuanshen who was standing stupidly.

"Zhang Erlang, what you said back then came true. As expected, Mrs. Li and her children could not be saved.

This is my retribution, Cao Yijin, but enough of my children have died, can you two cousins ​​be saved?"

Cao Yuanshen's lips moved. He wanted to say that it was still unclear who would win, but maybe it was the blessing of his ancestors, so he swallowed these words.

"My nephew wants to go to Liangzhou, because Guasha is poor and far away from the Central Plains, so it is really difficult for him to use his skills.

But I want to take away the name of the Guiyi Army. If you don’t want to return to your homeland, you won’t need this morality.

Let’s put aside the position of Jiedu Envoy of the Guiyi Army for the time being. Send an envoy to the imperial court to ask a school inspector for a certain father-in-law. Let’s observe and deal with the Jiedu envoy of Guasha and Shazhou, who is also the governor of Shazhou!”

As soon as Zhang Zhao finished speaking, Cao Yuanzhong was stunned. He really had never thought about taking the power of Guazhou and Guazhou into his hands, but things were so strange. He couldn't get what he wanted, and Liu Chengyin was the one who unintentionally inserted the willow.

.

But for the other two people, these words were like a thunderbolt from the clear sky, and Cao Yuanshen knelt down with a thud.

"Father!" Cao Yuande screamed directly in grief.

Zhang Zhao wanted to invite the observer envoys of Guasha and Shazhou and the governor of Shazhou for his father-in-law Cao Yuanzhong. After Cao Yuanzhong got this official position, Cao Yuande had nothing.

At this time, whether it was the Guiyi Army in Hexi, the Uighurs in Ganzhou, or Liangzhou, they still had to pay attention to their names.

Whenever there was a change of military envoys, khans, etc., they had to be recognized by the Central Plains dynasty. You could not become any official you wanted.

Cao Yijin didn't even look at Cao Yuande and Cao Yuanshen. It seemed that the mutiny in Qingyuan Palace deeply stimulated Cao Yijin.

"What about the Jiedu Envoy of the Guiyi Army? You, Zhang Erlang, don't want it anymore?"

Zhang Zhao hesitated for a moment, but decided not to tell lies in front of Cao Yijin.

"My nephew will go to Liangzhou soon. After staying in Liangzhou, he deceives the superiors and deceives the subordinates. He expropriates and levies three feet of land. Someone is willing to replace him.

If it can be done, the imperial court will definitely grant the title of military envoy to Hexi Province and return it to the Yijun Army, so they will not invite him for the time being.

In addition, when my nephew returned to Dunhuang, he actually had an army of five thousand, named Fengtian Army.

But since he returned to the east, the word "Fengtian" was beyond the reach of other ministers, and there was no need to arouse the jealousy and displeasure of the court just because of a name.

Therefore, if someone wants to rename the Fengtian Army to the Guiyi Army, he can use these five thousand men to ask the imperial court to be the envoys of the Guiyi Army!"

"What a plan!" Cao Yijin coughed a few times, and everyone in the room looked at Zhang Zhao differently.

Zhang Zhao wanted to hide the title of Guiyi Army Jiedushi, because a Guiyi Army Jiedushi with only Guasha and a Guiyi Army Jiedushi with Liangzhou were completely useless to the Central Plains court.

Two feelings.

Therefore, in order to avoid the fear of the Central Plains court, it was undoubtedly correct to hide the name of the Jiedushi of the Guiyi Army and only use the name of the Jiedushi of Hexi.

But changing the name of the army to Guiyi Army and using the title of Guiyi Army Envoy would not be so conspicuous.

This not only maintains moral integrity, but also avoids being too eye-catching.

"So, Zhang Erlang, are you ready to let go of your hatred for the Emperor in White? Dalang, Erlang, just rest assured and be a rich man!"

Cao Yijin let out a long sigh. The first half of the sentence was to ask Zhang Zhao, and the second half was for the two brothers Cao Yuande and Cao Yuanshen who were kneeling on the ground.

"Let it go! Because I think my mother is right. The blame for my father's death should be blamed on the Ganzhou Uighurs!"

Not avenging his father is a big demerit in this era. Even if Zhang Zhao has no feelings for Zhang Chengfeng at all, he can't say that he won't avenge Zhang Chengfeng. Now it's time to use the words of his mother, Princess Fengtian, to put things into perspective.

return.

"Besides, if I must avenge Youyeye, what will I do to my uncle? Then who should I avenge my great-uncle Situ Gong?"

The uncle Situ Gong mentioned by Zhang Zhao refers to Zhang Huaishen, the second military governor of the Guiyi Army.

Zhang Huaishen was the eldest son of Zhang Yichao's brother Zhang Yitan. After Zhang Yichao arrived in Chang'an, Zhang Huaishen became the actual controller of the Guiyi Army.

Later, after Zhang Yichao passed away, his descendants returned to Shazhou from Chang'an, that is, Zhang Zhao's grandfather Zhang Huaiding came back with his entire family.

Naturally, after Zhang Huaiding returned, he must have believed that the Jiedushi of the Guiyi Army should belong to him. With the support of his brothers-in-law Suo Xun and Li Mingzhen, he took advantage of Zhang Huai's deep concubine's resentment and launched the first bloody coup in the history of the Guiyi Army.

In the coup, Zhang Huaishen, who had been in power for more than ten years and had been in the rebel army, including his wife Chen and his six legitimate sons, were all killed.

This also became the curse of the Guiyi Army. From then on, every replacement of Jiedushi was always accompanied by bloody internal fighting.

No matter from which perspective, Zhang Huaishen made great contributions to the development and growth of the Guiyi Army, and his succession was also approved by Zhang Yichao.

Zhang Zhao's grandfather, Zhang Huaiding, was not qualified to do this, but he did it so brilliantly that he killed his whole family. The only one who survived was the Zhang family who was present and married to Suo Xun's son.

"Woooooo!" Mrs. Zhang didn't cry, but Zhang Huaiqing was crying.

This man, who lost his father when he was young, was actually raised by his cousin Zhang Huaishen. When Zhang Huaishen was killed, he was already in his teens, so he has a very deep memory.

"Zhang Erlang, please say something fair!" Zhang Huaiqing became more and more sad as he cried.

"Situ has made great contributions to the Zhang family and the Guiyi Army. He often handles government affairs until midnight. He is the military governor. It was approved by the Taibao Gong. Why did he end up with his whole family being killed? How unfair is the sky?"

"It's my grandfather, I'm sorry, uncle!" Zhang Zhao admitted it immediately without any hesitation, because it was indeed Zhang Huaiding who did something wrong.

"Father! Father! Today, someone finally spoke a word of justice for you. The common people have done evil and the monarch has been deceived. When will the Zhang family stop killing each other?"

Zhang, whose tears had long since dried up, squeezed the corners of her clothes tightly and finally cried again, no longer as numb as the living dead.

If we want to say who is the most miserable among the Guiyi Army, she is the most miserable.

The cousin and father-in-law teamed up to kill his father and six brothers.

Immediately afterwards, her cousin Zhang Li led others to kill her father-in-law's family, including her husband, leaving only her and a few children.

Later, she witnessed the execution of Li's three sons.

Listening to the sad cries in the room, everyone was awakened to the nightmare experience they had had, and everyone's face became sad.

If they hadn't killed each other, how could the Guiyi Army be in the current situation? No one is willing to experience those bloody past events.

When will we stop killing each other? Although there is no family affection in the face of power, when the real knife comes, no one will be the winner, no matter the perpetrator or the victim.

Because this cycle will be passed down from generation to generation like a curse.

So, Zhang Zhao thought for a while, walked to his aunt Zhang and his cousin Zhang Huaiqing, and slowly knelt down.

"Uncle, people cannot be resurrected after death. I am going to open a separate cave for my uncle to make offerings to the Buddha.

I heard that my great-uncle had seven sons and a family full of descendants. I dared to love my great-uncle and give up one of his sons to be adopted by Uncle Situ. I then asked the court to grant him the title of Duke of Nanyang County as Taibao Gong and gave it to them as well, so that my uncle would continue to be popular!"

Zhang Huaishen's family was killed in the coup, and he was effectively extinct. However, as Zhang Huaiqing's younger brother who was raised by Zhang Huaiding, it is definitely the most comforting thing for Zhang Huaishen to give up a descendant and adopt him to Zhang Huaishen.

Cao Yijin narrowed his eyes and couldn't help but praise him secretly, "How brilliant!" He not only extended Zhang Huaishen's reputation, atones for his ancestors' sins, but also win over Zhang Huaiqing.

Because even though they were adopted, the adopted son and grandsons are still Zhang Huaiqing's descendants. Without this, the title of Duke of Nanyang County would never have been passed to Zhang Huaiqing's sons.

Moreover, Zhang Huaiqing is well-known within the Zhang family for being able to have children. He has more than fifty sons, daughters, grandsons, and granddaughters in total.

Similarly, the in-laws of his descendants and grandchildren are all over the upper echelons of the Guiyi Army. If you win over him, you will win over a large number of people.

Hearing what Zhang Zhao said, as the only living bloodline of Zhang Huaishen, Zhang's withered face suddenly burst into life, and she looked at Zhang Huaiqing expectantly.
To be continued...