Chapter 48: Military Envoy

Gao Xianzhi said: "The sage has issued an imperial decree to commend me for my contribution in getting the Arabs to withdraw and relieving the crisis in Bukhara, and to appoint me as the General of Guide and the Military Commander of Anxi."

General Guide, a third-rank official, was a nominal position.

The Anxi Bingmashi was one of the top three military figures under the Anxi Jiedushi.

Ever since the destruction of the military system and the growth of the feudal lords, the emperor would appoint various "envoys" to local places. This could be regarded as a supplement to the system based on the new situation. This situation had become very mature by the time of Li Longji, leading to the current situation of "envoys being important and officials being unimportant."

The Bingmashi has now become the third most important military figure after the Jiedushi Deputy Envoy and the Marching Sima, and is also one of the candidates for training as a reserve commander of a vassal state.

This was a complete surprise for Gao Xianzhi and Li Heng.

After Gao Xianzhi finished talking about himself, he added: "The sage has issued an imperial decree to appoint Chang Qing as the commander of the Central Government and the commander of the Anxi Tuanlian."

Zhechou Duwei was a powerful official position under the fubing system in the past. Now that the fubing system has been destroyed, it has basically become a nominal position, used as a title to supplement the official rank of "Shi". The later Anxi Tuanlianshi was a real position.

After Gao Xianzhi finished speaking, he and Feng Changqing bowed deeply to Li Heng and said sincerely: "The two of us have achieved this achievement because of your highness's appreciation and appointment. Thank you, Your Highness!"

"You are too polite, Generals." Li Heng helped Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing up and said, "This success is due to the wisdom of our father and the great power of God, and the courage of the two generals who risked their lives. I am just following the trend and cannot accept this courtesy."

Li Heng was polite in words, but he was actually thinking about the purpose of Li Longji's arrangement.

In terms of merit, although Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing only fought a good battle, their lobbying was successful.

If lobbying fails, the Tang Dynasty will definitely use military force, and at that time tens of thousands of troops will be dispatched. Therefore, the significance behind it is far-reaching. This contribution is indeed not small, and Li Longji has enough reasons to reward them.

There is a small problem though.

As the feudal lords developed to the present day, most of the military figures under the Jiedushi were recommended by the Jiedushi. The disadvantage of this was that it was easy for the Jiedushi to centralize power, but the advantage was that the whole army was united and had strong fighting power.

Li Longji is still very confident now. He usually accepts this rule and then deals with the problem of centralization from other aspects, such as appointing officials to dismiss officials.

But this time, the reward was given so quickly that Li Longji apparently did not ask Gai Jiayun for any opinion.

Li Heng guessed that Li Longji had two reasons for doing this.

The first thought is that Gai Jiayun is a Han Chinese, and Gao Xianzhi is a Hu Chinese. Compared with Han Chinese, Li Longji prefers to use Hu Chinese border generals.

As for why Li Longji preferred Hu border generals, the reasons are complicated.

From a personal perspective, Li Longji liked the Hu border generals very much when he was a child, which was related to an experience Li Longji had in his childhood.

During the reign of Wu Zetian, Li Longji's father Li Dan was the crown prince. Someone reported Li Dan to Wu Zetian for treason, so Wu Zetian sent Junchen to try Li Dan. At this time, a Hu man named An Jinzang stood up.

An Jinzang said: "The prince is sincere and will not rebel. If you don't believe me, I will dig out my heart and show it to you."

After saying that, he stabbed a hole in his stomach, and blood and intestines flowed all over the floor.

This scene frightened the cruel official Lai Junchen, and Li Longji was even more impressed.

It was from this time that Li Longji felt that the Hu people were trustworthy.

Of course, this is just a personal emotional perspective. From the perspective of border defense, "using Hu to control Hu" is also a very important reason.

Li Heng guessed that Li Longji's second thought was that Li Longji wanted to give Gai Jiayun a warning.

It was originally the duty of the Anxi Jiedushi to deter the Western Regions. This time, Gai Jiayun disobeyed Li Heng's orders and went to mediate the conflict between the Arabs and the Kingdom of Bukhara. Li Longji must have some opinions about Gai Jiayun, so he used this method to give Gai Jiayun a warning. In any case, Li Longji's appointment of Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing was very good news for Li Heng.

His wait these few days was finally not in vain.

Now he had to plan how to deal with Gai Jiayun.

Li Heng thought for a while and said to Gao Xianzhi, "Although General Gao has been promoted to the rank of military commander, he is still under General Gai. If General Gai wants to embarrass General Gao, General Gao may also... General Gai and General Gao are both generals of Anxi. If there is any grudge between them, they may not be able to unite to fight the enemy."

Li Ying spoke implicitly, but everyone heard his meaning clearly.

Gao Xianzhi sighed and said, "I am loyal to my country and will not go against General Gai for personal reasons."

"But the problem is still not solved," Li Heng said tentatively, "I have a plan, I wonder if General Gao is willing to adopt it."

"Oh." Gao Xianzhi became interested and said, "Your Highness, please teach me."

Li Heng said, "General Gai lives an extravagant life and spends a lot of money. If General Gao is willing to use money to make friends with General Gai, General Gai will surely resolve their suspicions with General Gao. Speaking of which, the rift between General Gao and General Gai was caused by me. I am willing to pay for General Gao's expenses."

"This..." Gao Xianzhi's face changed slightly, and he saluted and said, "Your Highness, I am very grateful for your kindness, but I am sorry that I cannot follow your plan. I have always been a straight-forward person, and I only want to do things in a straight way, not in a crooked way."

Li Heng laughed when he heard this.

Li Heng gave Gao Xianzhi this plan in order to test whether Gao Xianzhi's current personality was the same as described in history, so as to facilitate his decision-making.

Historically, after the Anshi Rebellion broke out, Gao Xianzhi retreated to Tongguan, and the eunuch Bian Lingcheng was the military supervisor. Bian Lingcheng asked Gao Xianzhi for bribes several times, but Gao Xianzhi refused to give them. It was also because of this that Bian Lingcheng told Li Longji that Gao Xianzhi had abandoned land for no reason and embezzled military rations, so Li Longji killed Gao Xianzhi.

Now it seems that Gao Xianzhi's temper has not changed.

But it is understandable that talented people are mostly aloof and have bad tempers.

But this is exactly what Li Ying needs.

Li Heng sighed in a pretentious manner and said, "General Gao is loyal and brave. I really don't want General Gao to be wronged or even disgraced in the city. Can General Gao protect himself when he goes to Anxi? If not, I will think of another way for General Gao."

"Your Highness cares so much about me, I really don't know how to repay you." Gao Xianzhi said sincerely, "But since I have this position, I can protect myself. Please don't worry about me. Your Highness is still not feeling well. If you worry about me and hurt your body, I will never be able to atone for my sin even if I die a thousand times."

Seeing Gao Xianzhi's confidence, Li Heng did not ask Gao Xianzhi how he could protect himself.

Because it's obvious.

If a newly promoted general can protect himself when faced with difficulties from his superiors, it must be because he is sure that although he has just taken office, he can quickly gain real power.

As for why he was able to gain real power so quickly, the first reason must be his strong military ability, which includes not only the ability to fight wars but also the ability to command troops. The second reason is that it was done by the boss himself.

Gao Xianzhi and Gai Jiayun just meet the above two points.

Li Heng firmly believed this, but the reason why he asked Gao Xianzhi these questions was just to make sure that Gao Xianzhi would never be able to reconcile with Gai Jiayun.

Li Heng said: "In that case, I will carry out the mission for General Gao. General Gao will go to Anxi first, and I will visit Anxi in a while."

"Thank you, Your Highness." Gao Xianzhi bowed, "I will be waiting for Your Highness in Anxi."

(End of this chapter)