Chapter 204 Yang Qing joins hands

The news of the Beiting Army recovering the broken leaves finally reached Chang'an. Chang'an was boiling, and people were celebrating everywhere. The extremely excited Li Longji even issued an order. The Chang'an Fangmen remained closed for three nights, and people beat drums and gongs and stayed up all night. The homeland that had lost for thirty years finally returned to the embrace of the Tang Dynasty.

Three days later, the highly anticipated reward finally came down. Li Longji generously appointed Li Qing'an as Duke of Tingguo, champion general, Beiting guardian, and guest of the prince. He rewarded 10,000 taels of silver and 5,000 pieces of silk. At the same time, he rewarded Beiting military 500,000 stag and 200,000 pieces of silk. All the military merits and promotions reported by Li Qing'an were approved.

Although many people guessed that Li Qing'an would receive a heavy reward, Li Longji's generosity still surprised many people. Gradually, many people understood Li Longji's thoughts. Giving up the broken leaves was his will. If he took back the broken leaves, he could let him explain it in front of the late emperor.

But Li Qing'an's promotion also made many people feel deeply disappointed. Yang Guozhong was one of them. Li Qing'an's victory had completely covered up his glory in Nanzhao. Although he was promoted to the Minister of War, he did not get the title of Duke, nor did he get the title of champion general. His loss and jealousy made him not sleep well for several days.

Similarly, Li Qing'an's victory doubled the glory of Prince Li Heng. For this reason, Li Longji specially summoned the prince and praised him for his contribution to recommending Li Qing'an. This made King Qing Li Cong extremely disappointed and extremely angry. He locked himself in his mansion and abused his subordinates all day long.

Prince Li Heng was so excited that he couldn't sleep all night. He also received a good news from Li Qing'an to him. Early in the morning, he spread out the letter paper and prepared to reply to Li Qing'an.

‘When Gu heard that Ye had won the victory, he was very happy. You led the three armies to the Western Regions, which were the pillars and beams of the Heavenly Dynasty. Gu Te allowed you to take Ye’s power to travel westward, and to win the reputation and righteousness of the Heavenly Khan, and to be thousands of miles away from the Western Regions.

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After writing the letter, he read it and felt something was wrong, so he tore the letter apart, kneaded it into a ball and threw it away, and took another piece of letter paper and wrote: "I heard that Ye Dasheng was a great victory in my heart. I led the three armies to the Western Regions, which are the pillars and beams of the Heavenly Dynasty. I should ask the emperor to approve it, and I will allow you to take Ye’s power to travel westward, and to win the reputation and righteousness of the Heavenly Khan, and to be thousands of miles away from the Western Regions...'

The two letters are just one word "I should ask the emperor to ask for the emperor", but the meaning is completely different. One letter is that Li Heng made his own decision to let Li Qing'an go west, while the other letter is that Li Heng asked the emperor to approve. After Li Heng wrote the letter, he sealed the mouth with fire lacquer and ordered someone to send the broken leaves to Li Qing'an.

He was so excited that he couldn't sleep all night. After writing the letter, he became a little tired. He simply sorted out the desk and went back to his bedroom to rest.

Li Heng went to rest, and the historian left immediately. Several eunuchs in the study were busy cleaning the study. This was done every day, which was already a customization.

Several eunuchs were all old eunuchs who had been with Li Heng for many years, so he could trust him. Among these eunuchs, the eunuch who was responsible for cleaning up the documents was named Wang Anliang. After following Li Heng for five years, he never had any mistakes. He usually acted quickly and was always the first to finish the cleaning. But today he was a little abnormal. He slowly took it and he was only half finished after others had finished it.

It was cold and the other eunuchs had gone back after cleaning up. At this time, only Wang Anliang and another eunuch who cleaned up the charcoal basin were left in Li Heng's study. Wang Anliang was responsible for burning Li Heng's deposed documents in the charcoal basin.

The eunuch who packed the charcoal basin was waiting for him. Seeing him slowly, he couldn't help but rush: "Eunuch Wang, hurry up, I'm so anxious to pee, I can't hold it in my arms."

It has always been a painful thing for eunuchs to hold back their urine, especially when they serve the prince, they cannot leave at will. When they want to urinate, they often cannot hold it in, so eunuchs generally do not drink water in the morning.

Wang Anliang turned around and smiled, "Then you go pee first! I'll be fine if you come back."

The eunuch couldn't hold it in anymore and shouted, "Then I'll go first!"

He ran away, and Wang Anliang was the only one left in the study. He moved extremely quickly and picked up the letter that Li Heng had just torn and pinched into a ball. He took out a pig urine bubble from somewhere in his body, wrapped the letter tightly, and stuffed it back into his body. They had to undergo strict body search when they entered and exited the study. Only by hiding it in and out of the study can they avoid the search. For this reason, Wang Anliang had been practicing hard for two months and was able to retract and release it freely.

Just after finishing up his clothes, the eunuch ran back. Seeing that Wang Anliang was still burning the letter, he couldn't help but frown and said, "I'm still burning the letter, hurry up!"

"Okay! Okay!" Wang Anliang threw the letter into the charcoal basin and then started to burn after a moment.

The eunuch went to pour the charcoal basin, and the pouring charcoal basin must also be inspected. The letters must be burned into ashes, and they must be plucked in the charcoal ash with a stick to prevent burying them underneath.

Wang Anliang walked out of the side hall of the study room and immediately came up with several guards. This was a routine inspection. He raised his hand high, but his heart was pounding with nervousness. The search was very strict. Different people had to search each one, including clothes, shoes, socks, hair, and mouth. This was the rule of the palace. Other places were to prevent eunuchs from stealing things, while the study room was to prevent secrets from leaking. The same was true for palace maids. The old palace maids were to search and jump on the spot for inspection.

Since Wang Anliang and the others were old eunuchs who followed the prince and never had any problems, some inconvenient things were spared, and Wang Anliang got into this security loophole.

"Okay, that's OK!"

The guard gave a long order, Wang Anliang breathed a sigh of relief, and felt relieved. He put on his shoes and hurriedly left the side hall.

In the afternoon, Wang Anliang was not on duty, so he found an excuse and asked for leave and left the East Palace.

After a long walk around Chang'an City, Wang Anliang finally appeared at the back door of Prince Qing's Mansion. He informed the doorman and was soon led into Prince Qing's study.

In the study, Li Qiu carefully ordered pieces of torn letters on a large piece of white paper. Soon, a complete letter appeared in front of the father and son.

Li Cong read it twice, and he quickly found the key points of the letter, but he was a little disappointed. The letter was not very lethal. Although Li Heng made a mistake, he also realized and tore the letter apart, which means that he had realized that he had made a mistake and corrected it immediately. In this way, as long as he explained to his father, the problem would be solved.

He had always wanted to get a letter from Li Heng ordering Li Qing'an to send troops to Guanzhong, which would be possible to overthrow Li Heng, and now.

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Li Cong's face showed disappointment.

Wang Anliang next to him was uneasy. Half a year ago, Li Cong found him and promised him to give him a generous reward. He ordered him to get the prince's secret letter. He was illiterate and did not know which letters were important or not. However, he was very smart. Today, when the prince wrote the letter and tore it off, he guessed that the abandoned letter might be useful, so he took the risk of stealing it out, but King Qing's face seemed not very happy.

At this time, Li Qiu smiled and said, "Father, this letter is very useful. We must reward the prince and the grandfather."

Li Cong was stunned for a moment. What could he have to reward if he stole this kind of letter? However, seeing his son's expression was serious, he nodded and said, "Wang'er, it's up to you to decide this reward!"

Li Qiu smiled and said to Wang Anliang: "Eunuch Wang, tell me what reward you want!"

Wang Anliang swallowed his saliva and timidly expressed his longing in his heart: "I want five hundred taels of gold and five hundred acres of land."

"Okay! I'll reward you."

Li Qiu turned around and ordered, "Come on, bring the reward."

After a while, two guards came in, carrying two large plates, each with ten ingots of yellow gold. This was the official gold, twenty-five taels per cake, and a paper field deed, which was 500 acres of land on Gaoyang County.

"Eunuch Wang, this is yours."

Wang Anliang was so excited that he knelt down and kowtowed, "I thanked the prince for the reward!"

Li Qiu waved his hand and smiled, "Do your work for us, the prince will also have a heavy reward and will never treat you badly."

"I understand that I am willing to serve the prince!"

Wang Anliang was sent away, and Li Cong, who had been silent, said unhappy: "My son, this letter is really not worth so much reward, why are you so generous?"

Li Qiu quickly bowed and explained: "Father should know the story of buying horse bones with a daughter!"

"You mean to win over this person and work hard for us?"

"Yes! This person is on duty in the prince's study, and his position is extremely important. The child thinks that we should set a long line and catch big fish."

"Yes!" Li Cong agreed with his son's thoughts. He pointed to the letter and asked, "What should I do if I do this letter?"

"Father, this letter burned it, and it was useless. Once it was leaked, it would alert the snake."

As he said that, Li Qi picked up the letter and burned it directly in the charcoal basin. Until it was burned to ashes, Li Qi clapped his hands and smiled: "Father, there is another thing that is extremely important. I hope my father will do it quickly."

"What's up?"

"Did your father forget it? Lian Heng and Yang Guozhong formed an alliance with him."

"Oh! I've talked to him about this and we have reached a consensus."

"Father, you have to talk about this kind of thing frequently. As you talk, the solution will come out."

Before he knew it, Li Cong was held by his son's nose, and he nodded happily, "Okay! I'll talk to him now."

In the evening, Yang Guozhong's mansion was quite lively. Today is the birthday of Yang Guozhong's wife Pei Rou. Yang Guozhong was very low-key and only invited his family to celebrate his wife's birthday. This is his cleverness. The arrogant and domineering Yang family has aroused public anger in the capital. In order to show that he is different from others, he deliberately held a simple birthday banquet to celebrate his wife's birthday.

Of course, this simple birthday party must be widely promoted afterwards, especially letting the emperor know, otherwise it will lose the meaning of his invitation to gain reputation.

The birthday banquet was held in the living room, and a total of twenty-three guests were present, all of whom were Yang clan. Yang Guozhong and his wife Pei Rou sat in the main seat, next to them were the three Yang sisters. His four sons were taking turns to toasting their mother to celebrate their birthday.

There was a lot of laughter in the living room. Yang Huahuahua had drunk a little too much, her face was red. She asked Yang Guozhong with a hint of drunkenness: "San brother, how does it feel to be a prime minister?"

Yang Guozhong shook his head, "It's good to be respected by thousands of people, but it's too tiring."

Pei Rou next to him smiled and said, "Your third brother always says that the name of this prime minister is not true. There is only one real prime minister, that is, the right prime minister."

Yang Huahua drank all her hands again and said with a smile: "Would you like me to help me? I will drive Li Linfu off the stage and let the third brother be the right prime minister."

Yang Guozhong was startled and hurriedly said, "San Sister, you are drunk."

Yang Huahua waved her hand, "Where am I drunk? Don't you believe me?"

The Korean lady Yang Yupei next to him hurriedly advised: "Three sisters, power struggles are played by men. We women don't understand these things, so it's best not to ask about it."

"Swish!" Yang Huahua snorted disdainfully, "That's you. If you don't understand, don't say that others don't understand either. I'm just too lazy to ask. If I play the power struggle, all men will be stunned."

At this moment, a family member shouted: "Your Majesty the Emperor, the Concubine is here!"

I saw a hundred strong eunuchs carrying dozens of large boxes in. The eunuch Yu Chaoen took the gift list and said with a smile: "Super Yang, Mrs. Yang, dear guests, I will send you some birthday gifts on your orders and congratulations to Mrs. Yang on his birthday."

"I will be blessed to receive the rituals of the Lord and the Empress in three lives."

Yang Guozhong hurriedly went up to receive the gifts, and the children of the Yang family rushed up to watch the birthday ceremony. Only Yang Huahua sat in her seat and sneered. These stupid people were so excited about the few broken boxes.

At this time, she suddenly saw a family member running in and whispering a few words in Yang Guozhong's ear. Yang Guozhong was stunned for a moment, explained something to his wife, and hurriedly followed his family.

Yang Huahua was a little curious about what happened, and she let the three of them walk away from the emperor's ceremony. She also stood up and quietly followed Yang Guozhong.

In Yang Guozhong's study outside, King Qing Li Cong was walking back and forth with his hands behind his back. He didn't expect that today was the birthday of Mrs. Yang Guozhong, and he did not prepare a gift, but his mind was not here. He just thought of a problem in the carriage. Last time, the father said he wanted to expand the prefecture, which caused a lot of controversy. Those who meet the conditions all made the grass and trees fight, but it was only less than a month, and this matter was silent again. What happened here?

Just as he was thinking, footsteps came from behind him, then Yang Guozhong's laughter appeared at the door, "Let the prince wait for a long time, forgive me! I wish you guilty!"

Li Cong bowed and said, "I should apologize. I didn't know that today is Mrs. Zun's birthday. I came to disturb Shangshu Yang. Please let me add a birthday gift."

"The prince is willing, I will receive the intention."

Yang Guozhong waved his hand and smiled, "Prince, please sit down!"

The two sat down, a maid served tea, closed the door and left. Li Cong then asked: "Shangshu Yang, why is there no news about the expansion of prime minister some time ago?"
To be continued...