In the early morning, lightning and thunder were thundering, and a heavy rain poured down. After dawn, the rain gradually became lighter. Jialan took Longwei Tong out of the city and rushed to Ci'en Temple eight miles south of the city, set up an attacking battle formation and made an attacking posture. It was aggressive, and it was clearly intended to anger Wang Zhongbo. He told Li Yang that Dugu Zhen of Wei County had completely drawn a clear line with them. If Li Yang raised troops to rebel, Anyang would attack and quell the rebellion at any cost.

However, what Galan did not expect was that the "chess" he thought he could control the development of the situation did not anger Wang Zhongbo or intimidate Li Yang, but instead angered Dugu Zhen.

Dugu Zhen discussed the situation with his close relatives and relatives, including Master Li, Fu Yi, Wei Zheng and other famous Hebei scholars, and were exhausted. He just closed his eyes and took a nap and was woken up by Chai Shao. When he learned that Jia Lan had left the city with his army, he neither reported to him nor discussed with Wei Zheng and Chai Shao. He couldn't help but be furious. [..com]

Galan is self-righteous, arrogant, domineering, and doing whatever he wants. He doesn't even see Dugu Zhen, a royal relative, in his eyes, and ignores the huge crisis caused by the current situation to all forces. He acts so arrogantly, like a wild buffalo that will inevitably endanger their control of the situation. Once the situation gets out of control, they will not only lose their personal and group interests, but also the disaster of death and death.

Dugu Zhen was angry and his face looked extremely ugly, but soon he calmed down.

Not long ago, Qi Hui, the master of Taoist Dharma in Louguan, far away in Zhongnan Mountain in Guanxi, wrote a letter, which specifically mentioned the complex relationship behind Galan. Galan is a disciple of monk Huixin of Shengyan Temple in Dunhuang. He is of high qualification among the monks in the northwest. This time he goes east to Central Earth, he will definitely get help from the monks in the northwest. At the same time, Galan is a close confidant who is highly valued by Pei Shiju and Xue Shixiong. He can receive the care of the senior officials in the center and the military. From another perspective, Galan represents the interests of the monks in the northwest and represents the power of the reformists in power. Now the emperor has appointed Galan as the imperial guard and summoned him from Tulunchuan thousands of miles away to the palace. Then he sent him south to Liyang at the moment of the second eastern expedition. It is obvious that the emperor gave Galan a special mission.

Dugu Zhen had to look at Galan's "arbitrary behavior" carefully, and had to find the true intentions of the emperor and the center from Galan's words and deeds. At present, one thing is certain that the emperor and Pei Shiju firmly controlled the overall situation, stood at the peak and looked down on the development of the situation, and waited for all forces to "show their skills" in the development of the situation, and then killed the rebels with thunder and eliminated dissidents, so as to clear obstacles for the accelerated advancement of reform.

This is the interpretation of the current political situation of the empire by senior officials and powerful families who are well versed in power struggles, but Dugu Zhen looked deeper and thought more complicatedly. Dugu Zhen was a royal relative and his uncle today. He was responsible for defending the country. His responsibility for protecting the empire was far greater than that of others. For example, the inheritance of the imperial unity was not only the top state matter related to the rise and fall of the country, but also the family matter of the emperor. However, ordinary ministers dare not get involved in this matter, but the central minister had to get involved, while royal relatives like Dugu Zhen must be involved.

It is conceivable that the impact of this storm on the empire is a huge battle for the crown prince. The empire cannot have a monarch for a day. Similarly, the empire cannot have a crown prince. The establishment of the crown prince is directly related to the stability of the empire's political situation, greatly reducing the political storm caused by the struggle for the inheritance of the imperial unity.

Prince Yuande had been dead for seven years and the emperor did not establish a crown prince for seven years. What is the reason? There are all kinds of speculations in the court, and the most convincing speculation is related to the drastic "reform" that the emperor insisted on.

There is only one theme of the emperor's reform, which is a high degree of centralization. In the nearly four hundred years of division history of Zhongtu since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the most dazzling political symbol is the politics of "arists and gentry". In these four hundred years, the regimes were actually controlled by the arists and gentry of Zhongtu, and the "nine-rank Zhongzheng System" official selection system ensured the continuation of this political pattern. The Great Sui Dynasty of the Yang family unified Zhongtu, and the late emperor did not hesitate to abandon the nine-rank Zhongzheng system and raised a sharp sword to the "arists and gentry" politics, trying to completely eradicate the root of the division between Zhongtu and the roots that could overthrow the Yang family's reign. However, the "arists and gentry" politics that lasted for nearly four hundred years was very hard. This knife was cut down, but it was far from the death of the "arists and gentry" politics.

Today, the emperor took over the "reform" sword of the late emperor, urging his horse to whip, and was full of energy. He wanted to achieve it overnight, and to achieve his achievements in one battle, build the achievements of Qin Emperor and Han Wu for himself, and build a foundation for the descendants of the Yang family for generations. The difficulty can be imagined, but now the emperor is ambitious and confident. At this time, the high concentration of imperial power is crucial, which directly determines the success or failure of "reform". The crown prince's enthronement and the existence of the Eastern Palace will surely find a strong foothold for the conservatives in the court and the powerful families who oppose reform.

The reason why the late emperor deposed the crown prince Yang Yong and the reason why the empress Wenxian Dugu Jialuo supported the king's lifestyle has nothing to do with the lifestyle of the crown prince Yang Yong, and the closeness and distantness of the crown prince Yang Yong to the concubines. The real reason is that the crown prince Yang Yong has reached the opposition between the late emperor and the queen Wenxian in political stance. Others, such as the third prince, King Qin Yang Jun, the fourth prince, King Shu Yang Xiu, and the fifth prince, King Han Yang Liang, who later became fratricidal with the king, failed to fully understand and inherit the political ideas of the late emperor and Queen Wenxian as today.

If the empire wants to maintain its long-term stability, it must completely eradicate the politics of aristocratic families and implement a high degree of centralization; if the descendants of the Yang family want to pass on their inheritance from generation to generation, they must curb and crack down on aristocratic families to the greatest extent, redistribute the power and wealth of the empire, and allow the general public in the world to have the qualifications and opportunities to join the ranks of aristocratic families.

The realization of political ideals requires power and wealth as support. For this reason, today we need the greatest power, absolutely concentrated power, and the success of reform. He does not want to repeat the mistakes of father and son fighting each other and brothers fighting each other. He wants to establish a crown prince when his political ideals are close to success and when the overall situation is settled, and when the aristocratic families are already dying, let their descendants enjoy their success, leave a rich legacy for their descendants, and at the same time, he will go down in history and be immortal.

Dugu Zhen has a certain understanding of today's ideas. He himself does not oppose political reforms aimed at high centralization, but oppose today's "radical" strategies.

Everything is too much, too little, hasteness will not be achieved, and things will be reversed. Now, the civil and military strategist, a generation of geniuses have made a fatal mistake in this matter. The current reality is that the powerful families hold power, wealth, culture, and regime. Now the reform is to unite some powerful families with lofty ambitions, like-mindedness and pursuit of long-term stability in China and Turkey, and use power to openly plunder most of the conservatives, put the interests of individuals, families and groups above the interests of the empire, and pursue the "arist gentry" politics. The result is knife-to-killing, gun-to-gun, and the two sides meet each other, fight, and fight bloody battles, and the situation will eventually be out of control. Once the opposing sides fight both sides and lose both sides, it will eventually be the collapse of the empire.

No one wants the empire to collapse, and the powerful families are unwilling to do so. That would be too great a loss and too much risk for them. Therefore, everyone wants to hold on to the speeding carriage of "reform", slow it down and stop it. The best way is to directly change the "carriageman". This is what Yang Xuangan did, directly mutiny and change the imperial throne. If the opportunity is good, he can even push himself to the throne of the emperor. This is a violent method and it is too harmful to the empire, so Dugu Zhen does not support it. He supports another way, that is, establish a crown prince, cultivate the East Palace, and use the East Palace to restrain or even compete with the emperor.

In the late period of the late emperor's rule, the pace of reform stagnated because his main energy was restrained by the Eastern Palace and bound by his own heirs. After he ascended the throne, the powerful families of aristocratic families wanted to "conduct according to the law" and create an "opponent" for the current emperor. However, Prince Yuande was "overwhelmed". Under the "front-and-back attack" of the emperor and the powerful families of aristocratic families, he became sick and died. After that, the emperor delayed the establishment of a crown prince, but made rapid progress in the reform process. The powerful families of aristocratic families were at a loss and had no choice but to be passively beaten and retreat step by step.

Finally, the opportunity came. Among the Guanlong aristocratic group in power, the forces opposed to reform were violent confrontations. Yang Xuangan raised troops to rebel, while the nobles who supported reform or held a middle-level stance "medium" confrontation. Dugu Zhen, the uncle, planned to use this opportunity to threaten and even coerce the emperor to establish a crown prince.

If you want to "force" or "coerce" the emperor to establish a crown prince, you must make Yang Xuangan's "rebellion" a huge momentum, seriously endangering the safety of the empire, endangering the emperor's authority, endangering the emperor's reforms, forcing the emperor to compromise with the "centrists" in the Guanlong aristocratic group to seek their support, join forces to quell Yang Xuangan's rebellion, and then stabilize the empire, so that his reform cause can continue.

Therefore, Dugu Zhen would not participate in Yang Xuangan's rebellion, but would not take the initiative to suppress the rebellion. On the contrary, he would also secretly "help" Yang Xuangan. For example, until now, when Yang Xuangan's rebellion was already a fait accompli, he would neither report to the emperor nor the palace nor the Dongdu and Xijing, which was obviously to "buy" more time for Yang Xuangan to win a better situation.

Who knew that a arrogant and savage barbarian emerged out of nowhere to deliberately destroy Dugu Zhen’s strategy of planning for a long time and trying to tie him up to slow down the pace of reform. How could he not be furious?

After being furious, he calmed down and thought about it, and he had to take it with caution.

What is Jialan's origin now? An official slave. How old is he now? From the fifth rank, an imperial guard who is from the fifth rank, dares to "despise" his authority and do whatever he wants. What does this mean? Where did he get the courage? Undoubtedly, Jialan's courage was given by the emperor, and everything he did was for the emperor.

"The son is crazy." Dugu Zhen sneered, "It's better to teach him a lesson."

Wei Zheng and Chai Shao looked at each other with a look of worry. Jialan cannot die. At this time, he died outside Anyang City. The trouble would be great, and even all his previous efforts were wasted. Jialan is the front pawn of the emperor, Pei Shiju and others on this big chess game in Hebei. If you lose the emperor's front pawn, even if the emperor turns a blind eye to the face, how could Pei Shiju and Xue Shixiong give up?

Chai Shao hesitated and wanted to speak.

Dugu Zhen knew what he meant and wanted to go out of the city to stop Jialan so as not to fight between the two sides. Wang Zhongbo was strong and Jialan was also very fierce. If the two sides fought, it would be a fierce battle. If Wang Zhongbo lost, it would be equivalent to destroying Dugu Zhen's plan. If Jialan was defeated, how could Wang Zhongbo escape unscathed? It must be covered in scars and still be unfavorable to his side, so this battle cannot be fought.

Dugu Zhen waved his hand and signaled the two to leave the city quickly.

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Dugu Zhen didn't want to fight, but Yang Xuangan must fight.

On that morning, Li Mi and Yuan Wuben, with nearly 500 township warriors who had just arrived from Linhe and Qingqi counties, and thousands of strong soldiers, carrying food and grass weapons, braved the heavy rain and rushed north to support.

Also on that morning, outside Ci'en Temple, in the heavy rain, Jialan and Wei Zheng had a direct conflict.

"Someone is the Imperial Guard, some are the Dragon Guard Captain, some are directly obeying the orders of the Beiyi Mansion and obeying His Majesty." Galan roared in the rain, furious, "You give a certain imperial edict, if Your Majesty and the Beiyi Mansion are controlled by the envoy, some are withdrawing their troops immediately, but if not, some will chop your head on the grounds of violating military discipline."

Wei Zheng's face turned pale, and he wished he could chop him up with a sword. Chai Shao's expression was cold and seemed calm, but in fact he was furious and had already gritted his teeth, but he was helpless in the face of the murderous Jialan and the Northwest people. These northwest wolves were in the strange Hebei, and they were united in the juncture of life and death. They were all the same and had nowhere to start.

However, the future of the empire and the interests of the aristocratic families are more important. In any case, this group of barbaric northwestern people cannot destroy Dugu Zhen's plan. Someone can't convince you, but he can convince Wang Zhongbo and Chai Shao to stay, while Wei Zhengfei flew on his horse and galloped away from Lingbao Mountain.

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Chapter completed!