Chapter 438: The situation suddenly changes

As soon as the next day, the defenders of Mingde Gate discovered abnormal situations. An army appeared five miles away from Chang'an City, with tens of thousands of people, with a magnificent momentum and overwhelming flags. On a purple flag, there were two large black characters "Anxi". This was the arrival of Anxi's army. The defenders of Mingde Gate did not dare to open the door and rushed to report to Meng Yun, the commander of the Southern Army.

Meng Yun rushed to the city tower to visit. He saw that the Anxi army was all cavalry, with long black armor and long spears and arrows, and murderous auras rushing on the fields outside the city. He felt a sense of fear. When he betrayed Li Qing'an, he was always in a panic. Now Li Qing'an led a large army to remind him of Li Qing'an's orders, and took other people's heads in exchange for Anxi's troops, which made him even more scared. He immediately ordered: "Without my order, no one is allowed to open the city gate!"

He then ran down the city and reported to Li Heng.

At this time, not only did the Anxi army arrive outside the city, but the grand occasion also appeared in Chang'an City. A parade composed of eight thousand students appeared on Zhuque Street. In the front were more than 100 court officials, led by former Minister of Revenue Zhang Jun, including the Imperial College Priest Yan Zhenqing, the Taichang Temple Minister Zhang Ye, and the Minister of Rites Wei Jiansu and other important officials. They were in order and the team slowly drove towards Zhuque Gate.

At the front of the team, a five-meter-high banner reads, "Support the Crown Prince to Ascense the Throne!" This is Yan Zhenqing's handwritten letter.

This news caused a sensation in Chang'an City. Countless people ran out to watch and watched. Zhang Yun raised his arms and shouted: "Oppose the Supreme Emperor ascended the throne and support the prince!"

Nearly ten thousand scholars shouted in unison: "Oppose the Supreme Emperor ascends the throne and support the prince!"

The momentum was extremely great. In the middle, more than 20 officials including Pei Min, the Minister of Revenue, Dugu Haoran, the Prince Zhanshu Yin Cui Guangyuan, as well as old ministers such as Pei Kuan, Zhang Jieran, and Gai Jiayun who retired from office also joined the team. Under the leadership of Zhang Yun and Pei Min, two important officials in the Tang Dynasty, middle and lower-level officials continued to be involved, and officials from other places in Beijing also joined the team. By the half of the itinerary, thousands of officials had appeared in the team. They all had the same slogan: Oppose the Supreme Emperor ascend the throne and support the crown prince!

In the team, a huge joint brocade book that requested the support of the prince was constantly teleported in the team. The first signature was Zhang Yun, the Duke of Yuxiang County, followed by Pei Min, the Minister of Revenue. Below the two big names, there were dense small names.

The parade of Tai students and officials caused a sensation in Chang'an City, which made Wang Gong and other officials seem weak and pale when they proposed the Supreme Emperor's ascendance to the throne. At this time, the Yulin Army and Wanqi Camp, who had been silent, closed the palace city and the imperial city under the leadership of An Baoyu, the general of Wanqi Camp, and did not allow the Southern Army to enter the palace city. An Baoyu made a clear proposal: the new emperor's enthronement should be established by the Zhengshi Hall and the Queen, and no one may exceed the authority and abolish it.

The situation suddenly changed the next day. Li Heng, who was originally full of confidence, was silent in the face of the surging public opinion and official opinion. Especially outside the Chang'an City, Li Heng did not dare to act rashly, nor did he dare to forcefully suppress and drive away the parade students.

In the palace of Prince Yong, Li Heng paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, his heart full of depression and regret. He got up before dawn and was excited to look forward to the arrival of that moment. However, he did not wait for the second time for Wang Gong and other ministers to take office, but waited for the Anxi army to come to the city and a large parade with 10,000 people, which caused Li Heng's ambition to be greatly setback. At this time, he regretted it very much. He should not have listened to Wang Gong's words and politeness three times yesterday. He should have taken the lead directly before Li Qing'an's army arrived and let the rice cook for mature meals, but now it is too late for him to regret it.

A servant reported at the door: "Prince, Mr. Linghu has arrived!"

Li Heng hurriedly said, "Hurry and invite him in."

Li Heng was deeply impressed by Linghu Fei. His strategies and insights were obviously better than Wang Gong. When the situation suddenly changed, Li Heng thought of not Wang Gong, but Linghu Fei.

Linghu Fei can be said to be the least background or qualification in the Political Affairs Hall. He was originally a Jinshi who did not pass the Ministry of Personnel examination and had been an aide in Shuzhong and was unknown. Later, Xian Yu Zhongtong introduced him to the unlucky Yang Guozhong. After Yang Guozhong received his assistance, he climbed up step by step and finally climbed to the position of Right Prime Minister. In return, Yang Guozhong also vigorously promoted Linghu Fei and became the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. Perhaps Li Longji also wanted to find a capable assistant for Yang Guozhong, so he promoted Linghu Fei to the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and joined the Political Affairs Hall.

Li Heng has never paid much attention to this person, but since Yang Guozhong successfully persuaded Li Chenghong's brothers last time, Li Heng began to look at Linghu Fei with admiration. He began to realize that this was an extremely rare strategic talent, and he was determined to take this person as his confidant.

After a moment, Linghu Fei hurried into Li Heng's study led by a family member. Linghu Fei took two steps forward and bowed and said, "I am not good at ease to meet the Supreme Emperor."

"Eunuch Linghu, please sit down quickly!"

Li Heng asked him to sit down in a warm tone and ordered someone to serve good tea. Although Li Heng was anxious, he was still as calm as before on the surface, and there was no sign of anxiety, which made Linghu Fei secretly admire him. As expected, Jiang is so spicy that he is so calm!

"I wonder if the Supreme Emperor asked Bei Yi to come over, is it because of the chaos in Chang'an?" Linghu Fei couldn't help but ask first.

Li Heng nodded and sighed, "The situation in Chang'an suddenly changed, and I was a little at a loss, so I invited the envoy to discuss the current situation and countermeasures."

Linghu Fei smiled slightly and said, "I looked at Zhuque Street for a while today and found some interesting phenomena. Why not tell the Emperor about it."

Li Heng knew that Linghu Fei must have something to say, so he immediately said, "Please tell me!"

Linghu Fei picked up the teacup and took a sip of tea, pondered for a moment, then slowly said: "The parade started from Anyifang near Mingdemen. At the beginning, Zhang Yun took the lead. All the officials participating were basically Zhang Party. Zhang Yun was the leader of the Tang Dynasty literary world and the former Imperial College Priest. He was very prestigious among the Tai students, so he could easily summon eight thousand Tai students. As for the Imperial College Priest Yan Zhenqing, I think he was a little forced to come, afraid that the Tai students would cause too much trouble. Starting from Anyifang, this was obviously a deliberate starting point. However, when in Lanlingfang, Pei Min led a large group of officials and retired officials to join the team. What did the Supreme Emperor think of?"

"You mean Pei Min?" Li Heng was stunned. "Aren't he under house arrest? Why did he come out?"

"Don't the Supreme Emperor know? I heard that Pei Min was rescued last night and killed more than 20 Southern Army soldiers. Eighty-tenths of the ten were done by Li Qing'an's spy."

Li Heng really didn't know about this, and Meng Yun didn't report it to him at all. Li Heng felt annoyed. Is this Meng Yun starting to deceive him now?

Seeing that Linghu Fei was a little off topic, he hurriedly said, "The Supreme Emperor, it is not important for Pei Min to escape. What is important is that he participated in Zhang Yun's parade, which is the key to the problem."

Li Heng pondered for a moment and said, "Is it because they colluded in advance?"

Linghu Fei smiled and said, "That's true. Zhang Yun has always supported the King of Shu and the late emperor, but today he suddenly changed his temperament and actually supported the prince. Isn't he afraid that the late emperor blames him for being a fence-bearer?"

"Zhang Yun has always been a fence-bearing man, what's so strange about this?"

"No! Not exactly that."

Linghu Fei explained: "If you don't have any profit, you won't get up early. If you don't get the real benefits, will Zhang Yun offend the late emperor and the King of Shu for a young prince?"

This sentence suddenly woke Li Heng up. He thought of Pei Min joining the team halfway, and then he suddenly realized, saying, "Has Zhang Yun and Li Qing'an already reached the conditions secretly?"

Linghu Fei nodded, "It should be so, otherwise Li Qing'an would not have been so recklessly stationed his troops five miles outside Chang'an City. He was obviously escorting Zhang Yun's formation."

Speaking of this, Linghu Fei smiled and said, "There is another interesting situation. When the team arrived at Chongyefang, I saw Ji Wen, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of War, also joined the team. An Lushan actually supported the prince's ascension to the throne. This obviously meant to surrender to the court."

Li Heng was in a state of confusion. He didn't know what to do at this moment. He sighed slightly and said, "I'm very confused now. I really want to know what to do next. I hope that Mr. can provide me with a useful advice."

Linghu Fei also clearly felt that Li Heng relied on him. He also knew that this was his opportunity. Yang Guozhong had already declined and was not worthy of his entrusting. Then Li Heng's big tree was probably his future dependence. He would seize this opportunity no matter how he wanted to seize it. Linghu Fei pondered for a moment and said, "If the Supreme Emperor retreated and became the Regent of the State, I wonder if the Supreme Emperor could accept it?"

Li Heng had no choice but to say hatefully: "Of course I don't want to give in. If I have to give in, then I have no choice."

Linghu Fei smiled bitterly and said, "It's not a question of whether the Supreme Emperor wants to do so. In the current situation, the Supreme Emperor can only give in, and it must be as soon as possible. Once Li Qing'an proposes that there is no need to supervise the country, and the Empress Dowager will temporarily take over the state affairs, the Supreme Emperor may not even be able to obtain the position of supervising the country. Moreover, I heard that Guo Ziyi also supports the prince's ascendance to the throne. If it really starts a fight, will the Supreme Emperor think that with the army of Geshuhan and Meng Yun, can Li Qing'an defeat the coalition forces of Li Qing'an and Guo Ziyi? And there is also the Jiannan Army in Hanzhong. If it is taken advantage of by the Jiannan Army, Li Qing'an can retreat to Anxi, Guo Ziyi can retreat to Shuofang, where can the Supreme Emperor retreat?"

A sentence woke up the dreamer. Li Heng then remembered that his father, Li Longji, was waiting for an opportunity. If he and Li Qing'an both suffered losses, it would be a good deal for his father. The strong public opinion and Li Qing'an's high pressure finally made Li Heng realize that it was indeed unrealistic for him to ascend the throne to the emperor, and he was finally forced to give in.

"Okay! If it really doesn't work, I agree to be the Regent of the State."

"Reporting to the Supreme Emperor, verbal concessions are not enough. Bei Zhi thought that the key in this was still in the hands of Li Qing'an. Li Qing'an was still a variable if he was willing to let the Supreme Emperor be the regent of the state. Therefore, Bei Zhi suggested that it is best to talk to Li Qing'an in person before the Supreme Emperor gives in."

"You mean, let me go and talk to Li Qing'an in person?"

"Yes! Some things are sitting down to talk face to face, which may be much better than the suspicion between each other. After all, Li Qing'an is unwilling to ascend the throne by the late emperor. This is what you are in common. The effect of the Supreme Emperor will be much better when he goes there in person."
Chapter completed!