Frankly speaking, Pei Zhounan was not considered a treacherous minister. He did not do anything too bad when he was in Chang'an. At most, he got drunk and smashed a few wine shops.

Coming to Anxi was not what he wanted, he just had to do it according to the order. The Hedong Pei family was a century-old in-law of the Li Tang emperor's family and was relatively trustworthy. Li Longji naturally sent the children of the Pei family to Anxi after careful consideration.

Pei Zhounan had a free and easy nature and a brilliant literary talent, otherwise he would not have been listed among the "Eight Immortals in Drinking" by future generations. However, when the shackles of his family and the emperor's orders were placed on his shoulders, he had to give up his nature and choose to obey.

Faced with the angry accusations from countless businessmen, Pei Zhounan, who was originally calm, became a little panicked.

After all, he is just a scholar. Scholars can be reasonable, but swearing is definitely not his strong point.

The gate of the Jiedushi Mansion was surrounded by a crowd. The powerful Lord Gu was not around. Pei Zhounan, who had gained a bad reputation overnight, was surrounded by the crowd. Facing the angry curses from all directions, Pei Zhounan was at a loss. He had never been in his life.

I have experienced the feeling of being accused by thousands of people, and I feel panic and fear.

With the help of Li Sima, Pei Zhounan finally got rid of the crowd and quickly left the city. He stood in the yellow sand outside the city and breathed a long sigh of relief, then walked towards the camp.

Pei Zhounan had a special status. He did not need to notify when entering the camp. He entered directly and went straight to the commander's tent.

When he opened the curtain of the handsome tent, there was no one inside, and Pei Zhounan couldn't help but be a little surprised.

Could it be that this guy really went hunting?

Looking around again, the familiar faces of Gu Qing's bodyguards were no longer there. It seemed that they had really left the camp with their bodyguards.

Pei Zhounan realized that he had made a wrong move and that the order to withdraw the troops was too hasty. He had just made a promise in front of the businessmen in the city, and he would definitely keep what he said.

With two followers, Pei Zhounan turned around and went to Shen Tian's camp.

Shen Tian's camp is located in front of the Chinese army commander's tent. Pei Zhounan has been running around in the camp these days and has already become familiar with the generals' camps.

When they arrived at Shen Tian's tent, Shen Tian was wearing single clothes and half lying in the shade with his chest open and taking a nap. The guard next to him fanned him vigorously. Shen Tian was half asleep but still looked impatient from the heat.

Pei Zhounan came over and woke up Shen Tian. Shen Tian was surprised, his clothes were messy and he stood up to salute.

Pei Zhounan looked embarrassed and talked about being surrounded by merchants in the city. He implicitly apologized to Shen Tian, ​​saying that he should not have made a hasty decision to withdraw his troops, causing General Shen to fail in his success and causing rampant banditry.

Shen Tian's expression was blank, and it took him a while to understand what he meant.

"What does Yushi Pei mean..." Shen Tian asked politely, holding up his hands.

Pei Zhounan said awkwardly: "Your Majesty has always valued the trade routes in the Western Regions. Lord Gu came to Anxi to serve as the governor. One of the orders given by Your Majesty to him was to maintain the tranquility of the trade routes in the Western Regions and not to cut them off. Nowadays, bandits are rampant on the trade routes.

I'm afraid we still need our Anxi Army to send troops to annihilate..."

Shen Tian suddenly realized: "Pei Yushi means to mobilize troops to suppress the bandits?"

Pei Zhounan nodded subconsciously: "Yes, deploy troops to suppress bandits..."

With a startled smile, Pei Zhounan explained: "Originally, Lord Gu ordered the deployment of troops, but I heard that Lord Gu went out for hunting yesterday and did not know when he would return. The military situation was urgent, and the merchants in Kucha City were in a state of uncontrollable emotion.

, it is better to appease him as soon as possible..."

Shen Tian smiled easily and said: "It is very easy to suppress bandits. Our Anxi army is everywhere, and the bandits are frightened by the news. How can those young men and women compete with our Anxi Iron Army? But... Pei Yushi, you need documents to mobilize troops, no matter who gives it

The documents must be written in black and white. The general will only dare to lead his troops out of the camp if he has the documents to mobilize troops. Otherwise, the general will mobilize troops privately and cannot escape military law. Haha, his head will be lost. If Pei Yushi doesn't mind the trouble.

, why not write a troop transfer order to the last general, and the last general will immediately lead his troops to attack the bandits after receiving the troop transfer order..."

Pei Zhounan smiled and said: "I will write the troop deployment document for you now..."

Shen Tian was overjoyed and hurriedly said to his bodyguard: "Get a pen and paper quickly!"

The guards quickly brought paper and pens from the camp, and also moved a low table and spread the paper and pens on the table.

Pei Zhounan dipped his pen in ink and was about to write an order when he suddenly felt a chill on his back. It was obviously a scorching hot weather, and for some reason deep in his heart there was a biting chill, like... Hei Bai Wuchang was standing behind him and blowing at him. There is a ghostly atmosphere from the underworld...

Pei Zhounan's whole body was trembling, and a drop of thick ink fell on the snow-white paper, gradually becoming a large black ink stain.

From being surrounded by merchants in the city, to rushing out of the city to enter the camp, to asking Shen Tian to send troops to suppress the bandits, to now sitting at his desk writing transfer orders, Pei Zhounan's mind has always been confused. He has never been accused by a thousand people in his life. Thousands of people denounced traitors and sycophants in unison. For a scholar like Pei Zhounan, who was not considered a good person but had not done many bad things, it was a huge blow that was unbearable in his life.

Under such a sudden and heavy blow, Pei Zhounan had somewhat lost his mind. All his words and deeds were subconscious, completely forgetting the key to the process.

At this moment, Pei Zhounan's mind gradually cleared up and he regained his consciousness, and a very fatal and critical question popped up.

As a supervisory censor and a seventh-grade civil servant, does he have the power to mobilize the army?

This issue is very important. It is not a trivial matter. It affects whether Pei Zhounan's head can be safely grown on his neck.

It stands to reason that Pei Zhounan's status in the Anxi Protectorate is higher than that of Bian Lingcheng. Bian Lingcheng is the supervisor of the army, but Pei Zhounan can be called an "imperial minister". Although there is no such thing as an imperial minister today, The powers are the same.

The Imperial Envoy has the right to supervise the words and deeds of the commander-in-chief of an army, to prevent the commander-in-chief from making military strategic and tactical decisions that are detrimental to the court and the king, and to write memorials to impeach the commander-in-chief.

However, the imperial envoy has no right to directly mobilize troops beyond the commander-in-chief. This is a red line that must not be crossed, otherwise it will be suspected of treason.

The issue of military power has been sensitive since ancient times. If officials who do not have the right to mobilize troops dare to mobilize troops without permission, they will basically jump into the gate of hell with two feet, and the whole village, old and young, will be waiting to eat.

Pei Zhounan's eyelids twitched, cold sweat broke out on the floor, the hand holding the pen trembled slightly, and he suddenly dropped the pen as if he was electrocuted, staring at the pen and paper in front of him in horror.

What a risk! I almost died!

Turning around to look at Shen Tian's sincere smile, it seemed hypocritical.

Looking back on what Shen Tian said just now, it seemed that there was some kind of inducement, inducing him to write the troop transfer document. If the troop transfer document fell into Shen Tian's hands, Pei Zhounan's fate would be sealed, and the centuries-old marriage relationship between the Pei family and the Li family would be sealed. Nothing can save him. Once he is sued to the Chang'an court, what awaits him is the verdict of his death.

Thinking of coming back from the hell gate unknowingly just now, Pei Zhounan couldn't help but tremble all over, his face became paler, and the cold sweat on his back had soaked his clothes.

"Why didn't Yushi Pei write? You continue." Shen Tian said sincerely: "Suppressing bandits is like putting out a fire. Don't delay for a moment. Yushi Pei will give the troop deployment document to the general soon, and the general will order the troops right away. Prepare food, grass and water."

Pei Zhounan's mind became clearer and clearer, with a sneer on his face that looked like he would survive the disaster.

At this moment, he finally recognized a fact.

Today's Anxi is Gu Qing's Anxi. From top to bottom, the army only recognizes Gu Qing. Gu Qing's prestige in the army is even higher than that of Gao Xianzhi at the beginning. Otherwise, the subordinates will not act as an accomplice and help Gu Qing to harm him.

Standing up, Pei Zhounan said slowly: "General Shen, the Anxi Army belongs to the imperial court, and its surname is not Gu."

After saying that, Pei Zhounan turned around and left. Shen Tian called anxiously behind him several times, but Pei Zhounan still left the camp without looking back.

Seeing Pei Zhounan's figure disappear outside the gate of the camp, Shen Tian's anxious expression gradually calmed down and he sighed with regret.

There is only one step left, one step away from him writing the troop transfer document. What a pity!

This scholar is really lucky, even if he enters the gate of hell, he can come back.

What seemed like a normal scene just now turned out to be shocking at every step. From the rumors spread last night to the siege by businessmen today, the ultimate goal was to induce him to write the troop transfer document. As long as the troop transfer document fell into the hands of the Marquis, this would happen. The life of a censor almost belongs to the underworld.

It's a pity that he managed to avoid a fatal pit.

Shen Tian sighed for a while, and then said angrily to the bodyguard: "Bring me a horse, I will go find the Marquis."

…………

More than a hundred miles south of Kucha City, dozens of guards had set up camp by the Red River, and Gu Qing was sitting by the Red River fishing.

Above his head was a parasol set up for him by Han Jie and other personal guards. Behind him were two personal guards fanning themselves vigorously. The yellow sand around him reflected the sunlight, which stung his eyes.

Han Jie sat behind Gu Qing, yawned out of boredom, and said: "Master Hou, you have been fishing here for two days and haven't caught a single fish. I will think that there are no fish in the Red River at all, or It’s just that Mr. Hou’s fishing skills are too poor…”

Gu Qing glanced at him sideways and said: "Han Jie, I find that you are more and more fond of testing the verge of death recently... Do you want me to completely satisfy you once? How about running back to Kucha City from here? There is only one More than a hundred miles, you should be able to run before you die."

Han Jie hurriedly laughed: "Master Hou, don't make trouble, it will really kill people. What the general means is that since Master Hou said to the outside world that he was out of camp to hunt, at least we have the appearance of hunting. We haven't moved for two days. Let's go back. The last Censor Pei may be suspicious."

Gu Qing curled his lips: "The reason for hunting is nonsense. Do you think he will believe it? I pretended to believe it, and he pretended to believe it. The window paper in the officialdom is so magical. Even if they don't expose each other, everyone is still in harmony. "

Han Jie looked up at the sky and suddenly smiled: "Counting the time, Pei Yushi should be surrounded by the merchants in the city and unable to move at this moment, right? Haha, a mere seventh-grade censor dared to interfere in Anxi Regarding military affairs, let him taste the consequences today. The Marquis’ clever plan was to calmly make the imperial censor lose his position, and even dug a big hole to wait for him.”

Gu Qing's eyes were focused on the calm river surface, and he said calmly: "Maybe it's true that he was unable to advance or retreat. The hole he dug... he may not jump down."

Han Jie said reluctantly: "What if he jumps?"
Chapter completed!