In the afternoon of the same day, a decree came out in the Chang'an Palace, appointing Guo Song to serve as the envoy of Anxi and Beiting at the same time, in recognition of his achievements in recovering the Western Regions, he was crowned as the Taiwei and Kaifu Yitong Sansi, and officially canonized his wife as the princess of the county, and his son Guo Jincheng as the county prince of Gaochang.

Li Shi then made a second will, the general Ge Shuyao sacrificed his life for the country, posthumously named him the king of Xiping County, inherited his father's title, and gave the governor of Jingzhou the title of loyal and brave.

At the same time, Li Shi issued an edict, agreeing that Ma Sui and Li Baozhen would lead the army to withdraw south from Bianzhou and withdraw from Hebei, and ordered Li Baozhen to guard Yuzhou and Ma Sui to guard Chenzhou.

Dugu Qiu has been in a very bad mood recently, the source of his troubles comes from the disappointment of Li Shi, the son of heaven, when he first came to Bashu, Li Shi was full of ambition to recover Chang'an and kill the Zhu thief, but after less than a year, he began to pursue luxury, began to spend money, and began to recruit palace maids, completely lost the ambition of recovering Chang'an, and also favored the eunuchs, did not trust the generals, and actually let the eunuchs control the military power.

Du Gu Qiu no longer had any hope for Li Shi, as the head of the family, he had to think about the fate of his family.

At this time, the housekeeper reported at the door, "Master, Xue Shangshu is here!" ”

Duqiu woke up from his contemplation and hurriedly said, "Come in!" ”

He hurriedly walked to the courtyard gate, only to see that the housekeeper invited Xue Xun in.

Dugu Qiu smiled and said, "It's rare for a virtuous brother to come to me, welcome!" ”

Xue Xun saluted and said, "Later, I have to ask my brother to send me into the city!" ”

Although Xue Xun is the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, he does not have the privilege of opening the city gate at night, and only Xiangguo has it.

"It's a trivial matter, I'll send my brother back later, please sit in the hall!"

The two sat down in the lobby, the maid served them tea, and Duqiu smiled slightly: "Congratulations to the virtuous brother!" ”

Du Isoqiu's congratulations refer to today's official decree of the Son of Heaven to canonize Guo Song's wife Xue as the princess of the county.

Xue Xun was a little proud in his heart, when he came to Bashu to serve as the governor of Jian, there were Qingcheng Mountain masters who showed his daughter and said that his daughter would be unspeakably expensive in the future, and now it seems that this is the case, and today he and his wife are very happy.

Xue Xun said again: "I came to visit my brother today, and it also has something to do with this, and today I received a reply from my daughter." ”

"What did she say?" Dugu Qiu asked a little nervously.

"My daughter replied that if her husband can get the support of the Dugu family, it will be a great help to his career, and she has no reason to object."

Dugu Qiu Changchang breathed a sigh of relief, "The princess is really virtuous and wise, Guo Song is so blessed to have this good wife." ”

Xue Xun said again: "But she put forward a small condition. ”

"Please!"

"The princess said that she likes Dugu Youlan very much and hopes that the head of the family will consider it."

Du Qiu smiled, "I said it's her, she is my youngest daughter, she went to Zhangye last year and got along well with Princess Xue." ”

Xue Xun was stunned, he had to admire Dugu Qiu's old scheming, in order to let Tao'er agree to this marriage, he actually let his youngest daughter go to Zhangye first, needless to say, Dugu's daughter must have behaved very well and won Tao'er's favor.

Xue Xun didn't have much to say, so he had to laugh dryly and said, "If this marriage can be successful, we will really become in-laws." ”

Dugu Qiu smiled, "What's that called, brother-in-law?" Think of it as a brother-in-law! ”

"Is Xiangguo going to Zhangye?"

"It's not convenient for me to go, after all, I have to pass through Zhu Zhu's territory, but I can find a witness, and he should be willing to go for me."

"I don't know who it is?"

Du Gu Qiu smiled slightly: "Yan Zhenqing! ”

"Ahh Where is he now? Isn't it in Chang'an? ”

Dugu Qiu shook his head, "If he is in Chang'an, Zhu Jun will let him go?" He lived in seclusion in Pinggao County, Wonju, which was his wife's maiden home. ”

Xue Xun pondered, "Could it be that he lives in seclusion in Kongtong Mountain?" ”

Du Isolated Qiu gave a thumbs up, "Brother Xian guessed it." ”

The two knew it and laughed together.

Du Isolated Qiu took a sip of tea and said: "Today, the Son of Heaven proposed to allocate three million yuan to build the Forbidden Garden, and the virtuous brother knows about it!" ”

Xue Xun nodded solemnly, "Frankly speaking, I am very disappointed in the Son of Heaven, I don't actively plan to recover Chang'an, and I actually started to enjoy it, I heard that he also recruited a doctor of literature, established a literature museum, and recited poems all day long. ”

"Brother Xian is right, I am also very worried, I want to relax, it's okay to enjoy it properly, he is the emperor after all, but he actually favors the eunuchs so much, and he doesn't believe in the ministers, let alone the generals, this is dangerous, maybe there will be a second power center."

"What?" Xue Xun obviously didn't react.

"The power center headed by the eunuchs, against the political affairs hall, many emperors in the Northern and Southern Dynasties liked to do this kind of thing, in the name of beauty, balance of power."

Xue Xun's face turned a little pale, if that was the case, Datang would be in danger.

At this moment, a long scream suddenly came from outside, 'Ah-'

Du stood up and asked sharply, "What's wrong?" ”

A dark shadow flashed at the door and said, "Master of the Qiqi family, someone is eavesdropping on the roof, and we have discovered it." ”

Duyi Qiu and Xue Xun looked at each other, walked out of the lobby quickly, and saw a man in black lying in the courtyard, with a long sword beside him, and he was surrounded by four or five black shadows holding the sword.

Xue Xun woke up in his heart that these black shadows were probably the legendary Flying Fox Guard.

"Who is he?" Du Lonely Autumn strode up.

"The head of the family, he has committed suicide by taking poison, he has no clues on him, I don't know where he came from?"

"You just said he was eavesdropping?"

"Yes! He saw him lift the tiles and eavesdrop on the conversation of the head of the house. ”

Du Guqiu's face suddenly became ugly, and he turned back to Xue Xun and said, "Can Brother Xian guess who sent him?" ”

Xue Xun nodded, he remembered a saying some time ago that some of the warriors of the Hidden Sword Pavilion came to Chengdu and were taken in by the Son of Heaven.

.........

The time has entered June, the weather has become hot, and the Hexi Corridor in June is like a fire falling from the sky, so hot that people are breathless, but the night is relatively cool.

On a moonlit and starry night, a team of more than fifty miles was marching eastward under the moonlight.

This team consisted mainly of 8,000 carts and 10,000 camels, laden with countless booty, more than 100 sheep, and 80,000 horses.

10,000 Tang cavalry escorted this transport brigade, when they went there were 20,000 people, but when they came back, they were 10,000 cavalry, and the other troops stayed in Anxi and Beiting, which was obviously not enough, Guo Song had to continue to send troops to Anxi and Beiting when he went back, especially Beiting, there were Ge Lulu and Hui Hui, a wolf and a tiger peeping, he had to strengthen the defense.

The weather was too hot, the team could only rest during the day and march at night, and that night, Guo Song led the army from Suzhou to Ganzhou, and after walking for four months, they returned to Ganzhou.

Now Guo Song is most anxious about one thing, is to understand the development of iron fire thunder, he didn't care too much about it before, just as an auxiliary weapon for war, but now he is very anxious, he can't invest too many troops in Hexi and Anxi, whether he can hold Beiting and Anxi, he has to rely on this powerful weapon to defend the city.

"Envoy, can you reveal a little bit about our next move?" Li Bing urged the horse to follow Guo Song and asked with a low smile.

Guo Song glanced at him and said with a smile: "There is a saying in my hometown, it is called if you take too big a step, you will pull the egg!" I think that's just saying to you, you have to be careful. ”

Li Bing involuntarily put his legs together, and said, "I don't understand the humble position. ”

"I mean, take a good two years off! Anxi and Beiting are not so easy to take, especially Beiting, there will definitely be a recurrence in the future, we are very likely to face the challenge of Hui Hui and Qarlu, and we will also win the big and small Bolu, I think it will take at least three years to stabilize Anxi and Beiting. ”

Li Bing nodded, "Humble duty understands!" ”

Guo Song patted him on the shoulder and smiled: "When the West is consolidated, it is time for us to look east!" ”