"Duke Lu fell?" Li Xiao couldn't help but frowned.

He remembered Cheng Yaojin, who was like an old demon king. This old man was so old but he was very good, especially to these young juniors. Perhaps because he was born in a commoner and later married the Cui daughter of Qinghe, this old general who had been in a military life could see through many things.

He can see it at first glance whether it is the son of the Xunqin or the poor family.

At least, Cheng Yaojin has helped Li Xiao to be today.

The relationship between Li and Cheng families is also quite good. He heard that something happened to Cheng Yaojin, so he quickly asked.

The emperor had been dissatisfied with the Western Expedition Army leading the Western Expedition Army in Tuyuhun. Recently, he issued an edict to Li Daozong and Xue Wanche to replace Cheng Yaojin and Su Lie as the chief and deputy commanders.

But Chang'an is far from Qinghai, and there are still many things to do before General Li Xue left the capital. The result was that when the two were still on the way, the Qinghai side was still temporarily led by Cheng Yaojin and Su Lie, and the matter was done before this handover.

Before Li Daozong arrived, the front-line war was still underway.

In November, Cheng Yaojin led his army to attack and encountered 20,000 strong Tubo cavalry. Deputy Commander Su Dingfang personally led 5,000 cavalry in front of the army to fight against Tubo and defeated Tubo. The Tang army chased for twenty miles and killed more than 3,000 people. The captured war horses and equipment were everywhere, and it was invincible.

It can be said that this was a rare victory, and it was also the first real victory after Cheng Yaojin entered Qinghai.

But something went wrong at this time.

The former general manager of the army, Guo Daifeng, was jealous of Su Dingfang's contribution, so he told Cheng Yaojin that although he won this battle, the Tang army also suffered casualties and wounded deaths and injuries. Never pursue them. They should form a square formation and move forward slowly and carefully. If the enemy comes, they will fight. This is a perfect solution.

His suggestion was not wrong, but he was just a sub-master, and the final decision should be the commanders Cheng Yaojin and Su Dingfang.

After planning, Cheng Yaojin and Su Lie decided that they should take advantage of the situation to pursue and annihilate the defeated Tubo army in one fell swoop.

Seeing that Cheng Yaojin and the others disagreed with his strategy, Guo Tiefeng did something very extraordinary. He claimed to the generals in the commander's tent that the emperor had issued an order to change the commander in Chang'an, and also gave him a secret order.

It is said that before Li Daozong and Xue Wanche arrived in the army, Cheng Yaojin and Su Lie would be given power to him, and the entire army would be under his command.

At this time, Chang'an's order to change the commander was already here, but before Li Xue's second coach arrived, Cheng Su's second coach had not been able to hand over the commander back to Beijing. Normally, he would handle the transfer of military power after Li Xue's second coach arrived. But at this time, when Guo Kaifenglan made such a move, Cheng Yaojin really believed it.

Despite Su Lie's opposition, Cheng Yaojin handed over the military power to Guo Daifeng.

Guo Tiefeng was the son of Guo Xiaoke, a famous general in the early Tang Dynasty. Guo Xiaoke was actually from the Wagang Army and had a good relationship with Cheng Yaojin. Later, Guo Xiaoke guarded the Western Regions and became the first Anxi Protector, and later died in the Western Regions. Guo Tiefeng has been guarding the Western Regions. After defeating the Western Turks this time, he followed Cheng Yaojin to conquer Tuyuhun and became the chief manager of the former army.

Cheng Yaojin still believed him quite well and did not doubt the authenticity of the secret he claimed.

After Guo Shuefeng took over the military power, he changed his military order.

It was the cold winter, and the soldiers of the Tang army rode their horses all day long. In the severe winter, they were wearing heavy armor and slowly walked. The food and grass gradually stopped. The plateau conditions were harsh, and people died of freezing and illness.

Su Lie also advised Cheng Yaojin again, saying that the purpose of our army was to annihilate the enemy. At this time, we were trapped and defended ourselves. The enemy would be defeated when we came. How could we make contributions? Although the emperor changed the commander, you were still the commander before the new commander arrived. How could we secretly order a former general manager to issue orders? There must be fraud. Please order Guo Daifeng to be arrested and report to the emperor to make a clear decision, or he would deal with it after Li Shuai arrived.

However, because of the emperor's attitude of changing the commander, Cheng Yaojin shook his head and rejected Su Lie's suggestion. He had no doubt at all about the authenticity of this secret decree!

Under the leadership of Guo Zhifeng, the Tang army slowly marched on the vast Qinghai Plateau.

They marched in a daze and hard manner, with thousands of soldiers killed and killed on the road. In December, the army arrived at a city under the control of Xinhan of Tuyuhun. Thousands of Tuyuhun people opened the city gate and surrendered. As a result, after Guo Daifeng led his army into the city, he issued a city massacre order.

Thousands of Tuyuhun people who had already surrendered to the Tang Dynasty were slaughtered throughout the city.

The reason why Guo Kaifeng slaughtered the city was that these people would definitely rebel after we left, and might even attack us from behind. It would be better to kill them all and take away their food, grass, and wealth to reward the soldiers and stabilize the morale of the army.

Su Dingfang thought it was inappropriate. He was questioned for being charged for killing too many people before, but now he will be slaughtered again, so he will be punished with a higher level of crime.

He said that we were here to fight against the country, and that we would become thieves ourselves.

But Guo Zhifeng refused to listen and still ordered the city to be massacred.

The soldiers massacred thousands of Tuyuhun people in the city, but did not let anyone go. Afterwards, they divided their wealth to the entire army and gave Cheng Yaojin and Su Lie a share of the largest one. Su Lie refused to accept it, but Cheng Yaojin accepted it.

Not long after, Li Daozong and Xue Wanche finally arrived and handed over the military power.

At this time, the entire army realized that Guo Daifeng’s so-called secret order was the fundamental one. He was falsely spreading the secret order and seizing military power privately.

This matter is a big deal.

Guo Daifeng was locked and taken to Chang'an for guilt, but Cheng Yaojin and Su Lie were also unable to be exempted from liability. So after the handover, they were also sent back to Chang'an.

Now the emperor and the prime ministers of the Political Affairs Hall are very angry. Not to mention that Cheng Yaojin was questioned for murder before, this time he foolishly handed over the military power to Guo Daifeng, which led to the Tang army missing the opportunity to pursue and kill the defeated army, and then surrendering and massacring the city, which are all serious crimes.

Now there are officials from the Censorate who are impeached, and they want to discuss the death penalty of Cheng Yaojin, Su Lie and Guo Daifeng.

"Cheng Su and Guo have arrived in Qizhou and are about to enter Beijing." Changsun Wuji and Li Xiao said, "I heard that the Political Affairs Hall was advised by Guo Kaifeng to commit a decree and die. Cheng Yaojin stayed and refused to enter, killing and surrendering profits and saving officials, and was relieved of death and exempting officials. Su Lie did not receive any property, but he was also guilty of dereliction of duty and was demoted to the third level."

"That old man is almost seventy years old. I didn't expect that he would be in danger of his later years. He was also a hero in Lingyan Pavilion back then, which really made me embarrassed." Changsun Wuji shook his head and said.

Li Xiao breathed a sigh of relief.

It’s not afraid of being exempted from death. Cheng Yaojin’s qualifications are there. Although he is not as famous as Li Ji and Li Daozong, he is a good at fighting. At this age, he is like a mascot. Even if he makes a mistake this time, he will be exempted from punishment. After being punished, he will probably be exempted from punishment.

However, Guo Zhifeng is really amazing, but after thinking about it, Li Xiao felt that Guo Zhifeng should not have the ability to forge an edict to seize power. He guessed in his heart that there would be such a secret decree, but since Guo Zhifeng was messed up in the end, he would definitely have to take the blame in the end.

And if he really just took the blame, he would definitely not be executed.

With Cheng Yaojin's skill, would he be easily seized by Guo Daifeng as a general? Or is he a junior? It must be that Guo Daifeng showed some credentials, such as secret decrees.

But since Cheng Yaojin said nothing, he must be taking the blame for the emperor.

A few days later, Guo Daifeng and the other three were taken to Chang'an.

On that day, an edict was issued.

Guo Daifeng was originally punished for his edict and was killed, but in the end he was only removed from office and was given a civil service. Cheng Yaojin was originally exempted from death and seized his official position, but in the end he was demoted to the governor of Qizhou. The governor of Qizhou is a very important position. Qizhou is located west of Chang'an and has always been important.
Chapter completed!