Chapter 525: Urgent Countermeasures

In May, Anxi's victory in the Tang-Tibet War finally reached Chang'an. The city was full of joy. The people of Chang'an spontaneously walked onto the streets, beating drums and drums, and jubilant day and night. At this time, there were no distinction between Wannian County and Chang'an County. The streets were filled with cheerful people, white-haired old men, naughty boys, businessmen, soldiers, soldiers, different identities and ages. Everyone was immersed in the joy of victory.

But there was another scene in the Zichen Hall of the Daming Palace. Li Heng sat in the imperial case with a gloomy face. Several of his confidants stood aside, and no one said anything. Of course they knew about the Tang army defeating Tubo, but they received even more unsettling news that Li Qing'an had ended the Longyou Battle and led a hundred thousand troops eastward to cross the Yellow River from Lanzhou.

What they didn't want to face was finally in front of them. Li Qing'an is back. How should they deal with it?

"You guys say, what should we do now?" Li Heng's voice was hoarse and deeply exhausted. He had considered many possibilities. Perhaps Li Qing'an would come to the light carriage and horse association. He went out of the city to greet him. They laughed in their hands and smiled and pursed their grudges. From then on, Li Qing'an became his minister loyally.

Unfortunately, this situation can only happen in a dream. Li Qingan did not have a light carriage and a horse, but led an army of 100,000 eastwards without any previous reports. He would directly lead the army into Guanzhong. Li Heng felt a chill on his back, and the person who came was not good!

His eyes turned to Wang Gong. Wang Gong said that if Li Qing'an came, he had a solution, but now he wanted to listen.

"Prime Minister Wang, you are the chief of all officials, please tell me first!"

Seeing that Li Heng had chosen him first, Wang Gong was very helpless and had to bite the bullet and go forward and said, "I think Anxi's army is strong and cannot resist him."

"I know this too!" Li Heng interrupted his words unhappily and said, "I want to know the prime minister's response."

Wang Gong sighed in his heart. What else can we do to deal with it now? Li Qing'an is coming in a fierce manner. He obviously wants to seek justice for Li Shi. There is no room for negotiation. Either Li Heng abdicates or summons a large army to fight a battle.

Of course, he couldn't say that, he could only settle for the second best and find a plan that Li Heng might be able to accept.

"Your Majesty, I mean to make Li Qing'an the East Palace, maybe he can accept reality."

"no!"

As soon as Wang Gong said the words, they were rejected by a sharp voice. Everyone turned around and turned out to be Li Fuguo, the chief supervisor of the palace. He took a step forward and scolded Wang Gong, "You are the right prime minister of the Tang Dynasty. How can you say such a ridiculous and incredible statement? The Eastern Palace is the descendant of the saint, how can you let outsiders take over? Besides, after Li Qing'an is the prince Yin, if he enters the Eastern Palace, how can you tell the saint to the ancestors?"

Li Fuguo also served as the Supervisor of the Hall and the Supervisor of the Eunuch. He was very powerful. If all officials wanted to meet Li Heng, they had to ask him to agree. Li Heng trusted him very much and had to read the memorials first and listened to his opinions first. Li Fuguo would write his opinions in a green pen in the lower right corner. Over time, a convention was formed. His criticism was called "green criticism", and sometimes even more important than Li Heng's opinions. Li Fuguo also controlled the "Secret Office" that Li Heng had just established. He had hundreds of secret agents, specializing in supervising officials, or assassinating opponents.

Wang Gong was the right prime minister of the Central Secretariat, and he had certain prime minister's power. Some things were decided directly by him without reporting to Li Heng. For example, the appointment of officials below the fifth rank made Li Fuguo very jealous of him. He suggested to Li Heng several times: The prime minister's power is too great and should be cut off.

Although Li Heng had this intention, he had just ascended the throne and could not offend Wang Gong and other ministers too much. Despite this, Li Heng still gave Li Fuguo a power to attend the meeting of the Political Affairs Hall.

Therefore, the relationship between Li Fuguo and Wang Gong was very tense. There was news that Li Fuguo had secretly collected Wang Gong's crimes. Today, Li Fuguo caught Wang Gong's handle and immediately expanded the matter.

He relentlessly reiterated and said to Li Heng: "Your Majesty, I suspect that Wang Gong and Li Qing'an have had secret contacts, so he speaks for Li Qing'an so blatantly. I suggest that Wang Gong be suspended and investigate his crime of collusion with the enemy."

Wang Gong was furious. How could he slander himself in person like this? He immediately stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, I am loyal to Your Majesty. After a period of tests, I have never had any affair with Li Qing'an. Li Fuguo was talking nonsense and slandered the ministers. I ask Your Majesty to severely punish Li Fuguo and clear the court's principles."

"Enough!"

Li Heng shouted angrily: "Is it time for a quarrel? I want you to relieve your worries. You still don't think it's enough. Do you still have to worry about it?"

Seeing that Li Heng was angry, the two of them didn't dare to speak anymore. They retreated and glared at each other.

At this time, Fang Guan went out and said, "Your Majesty, I will say a few words about dealing with Li Qing'an."

Li Heng was excited and hurriedly said, "Please tell me if you like Fang Aiqing!"

Fang Guan glanced at everyone and said slowly: "There are two possibilities for me to save Li Qing'an. One is that he wants to take His Majesty and replace him. The other is that he is worried that His Majesty will seize his power, so he set up an army to force His Majesty. These two possibilities are more inclined to the latter."

"Why isn't the first possibility?" Li Heng asked.

"It's very simple, because he is a descendant of Jiancheng's crown prince. If he wants to ascend the throne, he will inevitably arouse opposition from many people. Unless the Tang Dynasty is occupied by outsiders, he can resume Li Tang, just like Liu Bei of Shu Han. Otherwise, his reputation is wrong, his words are not right, and he will not be able to get support from the world. His throne will not last long. I think Li Qing'an should also understand this truth. The late emperor of the Southern Tang Dynasty is still there, and the orthodox Tang Dynasty still exists, and it is not his turn to ascend the throne. Therefore, I believe that Li Qing'an's real purpose is to ask His Majesty to recognize his current power and territory, so there is room for negotiation."

Fang Guan's analysis made Li Heng deeply agree. His eyes turned, but he saw Linghu Fei with contempt, obviously disagreed with Fang Guan's opinion. Li Heng was stunned and was about to ask Linghu Fei. At this moment, his son Li Shi hurriedly ran from outside and shouted anxiously: "Father, something is not good!"

Everyone was shocked and looked at him together. Li Heng also asked anxiously: "What's wrong?"

Li was wearing a helmet and armor, and he stepped forward and bowed, "Father, my son heard two news."

"What news?"

"One news is that the Eight Thousand An Western Army had just escorted Princess Zhao and his son to leave Chang'an County and head west. The travelers also included more than 300 old ministers including Pei Min and their families."

Li Heng secretly complained that something was wrong. He restrained the tension in his heart and chased: "What's the news?"

"There is another news that Wang Sili's Ministry of Li did not obey the order and did not station in Huazhou, but went east to occupy Tongguan."

This news was like a bolt from the blue, shocking everyone in the side hall. Wang Sili's 40,000 troops came back three days ago. He originally asked him to lead his army to station in Huazhou, but he occupied Tongguan. Wang Sili was most likely to have been rebelled by Li Qing'an. He occupied Tongguan, which means he cut off the army in the Central Plains to return to aid.

Everyone looked at each other and realized that the problem was serious. Li Qingan had already taken action. At this time, Li Heng was upset and said to everyone: "Everyone, let's go down! Let me think about it carefully."

Everyone had no choice but to retreat, but Li Heng winked at Linghu Fei. Linghu Fei understood and walked around outside and came back. At this time, Li Heng had already returned to his imperial study room. There were only his son Li Shi and his confidant Li Fuguo in the room. Linghu Fei walked in and bowed to Li Heng, "See Your Majesty!"

"You're welcome, everyone sit down!"

Li Heng sighed and said to the three of them: "The situation is quite critical. Now the decision of the four of us must not be revealed."

Everyone nodded, and he said to Linghu Fei again: "It's inconvenient to speak just now, sir, please tell me!"

Seeing that Li Heng knew him well, Linghu Fei stroked his beard and smiled, "Those who know me are Your Majesty!"

"Oh! Sir, please tell me!"

"Your Majesty, I just refused to say it because I think that some of us must secretly contact Li Qing'an."

Li Fuguo excitedly said, "It must be Wang Gong. He had formed an alliance with Li Qing'an, so it must be him."

Li Heng waved his hand and told him not to interrupt Linghu Fei's words, "Sir, please continue."

Linghu Fei continued: "I don't think it's Wang Gong. Wang Gong is narrow-minded and is very jealous of Li Qing'an like Yang Guozhong. He made him have an affair with Li Qing'an. He couldn't let go of this face. I originally thought it would be Li Jun, Li Lin, or Zhang Ye, but after I heard Fang Guan's words, I realized that this person turned out to be Fang Guan."

"Fang Guan?" Li Heng was stunned, "But I think what he said makes sense?"

"Your Majesty, his previous paragraph is good. Li Qing'an is indeed unreasonable assertion now, but his next paragraph is misleading Your Majesty. There is a big loophole in his words. I wonder if you can hear it."

Li Heng and Li Fuguo were both in deep thought. Fang Guan's latter passage said that Li Qing'an's purpose was to protect his own interests and that the two sides had the possibility of negotiations.

Li Heng shook his head, "I can't think of any problem, so let me just say it!"

"Your Majesty, although Li Qing'an cannot ascend the throne for the time being, he can support other people! If he sets up a young child, wouldn't he be able to protect his own interests better than to pay tribute to His Majesty?"

Li Heng and Li Fuguo looked at each other and then suddenly realized, yes, since Fang Guan could think that Li Qing'an could not ascend the throne for the time being, how could he not think of the reason why Li Qing'an established others?

"This damn bastard!"

Li Heng slapped the table and said angrily: "I want to kill him first."

Although Li Shi had no descendants, Li Yu had two sons. In the hands of the Empress Dowager Shen Zhenzhu, she has now been taken away by Anxijun.

"Your Majesty, you can do it at any time when killing Fang Guan, but you should consider the way out now."

Li Heng had no choice but to ask, "What should I do? Please teach me sir."

"I think Your Majesty should make two preparations now. Now that Li Qing'an transfers his family and occupying Tongguan, it is obvious that he has to lay the groundwork for his march into Anxi. If I guess correctly, Guo Ziyi's army will cooperate with him to enter Guanzhong, but it will take at least three or five days for him to complete the deployment. We should make full use of these three or five days of opportunity to mobilize troops."

"What I mean is......"

"Your Majesty, what I mean is that the little prince should lead the main force into Hanzhong first."

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Chapter completed!