In a tent two miles away, Prince Li Heng was pacing back and forth with his hands behind his hands, looking a little restless. He was nervous and looking forward to it. The results he had been waiting for for more than ten years were finally coming out.
After waiting for more than ten years, not only was he looking forward to the throne, but also the woman who had been thinking about him for more than ten years. Thinking that she would soon cry sweetly under him, he felt a kind of excitement that he couldn't hide.
Of course, Concubine Yang is Li Heng's nominal mother, so such unethical thoughts should not arise.
But this was the Tang Dynasty, the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and the Xianbei Turkic style still existed in the royal family. The Xianbei people could take in other women besides their father's biological mother. These women were property, and the son had the right to inherit.
Therefore, in the Tang Dynasty, Li Zhi could marry Wu Zetian, Li Longji could also marry his daughter-in-law Yang Yuhuan, and it was not impossible for Li Heng to marry Yang Guifei if he wanted. This is the legacy of Xianbei customs.
For example, in the Han Dynasty, Empress Lu married her granddaughter to her own son. This was actually a remnant of matriarchal customs. It was allowed at the time, and the officials did not object.
Of course, his father is not dead yet, and Li Heng does not dare to make it so obvious. It is actually the same thing to raise her in the palace, her title is still the concubine, but he can favor her at any time.
At this time, Li Fuguo hurriedly walked in and whispered: "Your Highness, the imperial concubine has not been found."
"What?"
Li Heng was so angry that he slammed the table and shouted with great dissatisfaction: "How do they do things? They can't even do this little thing well?"
"Your Highness, according to the emperor, the imperial concubine is not with him either? She may have disappeared."
Li Heng gritted his teeth and said coldly: "Will she run away on her own?"
"That's what it means. The person who was arrested came back to report. The small door at the back was opened, but the person was missing. Her personal bodyguard and three personal palace ladies disappeared together. They probably escaped into the bamboo forest."
"Have you sent someone to search?"
"Five hundred people have been dispatched to search like a net within a radius of twenty miles."
Li Heng said angrily: "Five hundred people are not enough, so send three thousand people to search. In a word, if you want to see the person alive, you will see the corpse if you die."
"Old slave, obey the order!"
Li Fuguo left in a hurry, but Prince Li Heng had a bad start. He failed at the first step and couldn't even capture a woman.
Li Heng forced himself to calm down. He suddenly thought of Li Ye. Li Ye said he was giving them a ride. Could it be that the disappearance of the imperial concubine had anything to do with him?
But Li Heng had no evidence, and maybe Li Ye was doing it for Dugu Jinyang's army. There were so many things that made Li Heng upset. He had to sit down and continue to wait patiently for news about Chen Xuanli.
Half an hour later, Chen Xuanli hurriedly walked into the main tent, holding an abdication edict in his hand, "Your Highness, I got it!"
Li Heng was overjoyed and quickly took the long box. Inside was an abdication edict and the emperor's seal. He opened the abdication edict, read it over and over greedily, and finally couldn't help laughing loudly.
Without this edict, he could only be the prince overseeing the country. With this edict, he could legitimately ascend the throne.
"Your Highness, the imperial concubine is incompetent." Chen Xuanli said cautiously.
Li Heng waved his hand, "I guess he is hiding somewhere in the bamboo forest. We will continue to send people to search."
"Follow the order!"
After a pause, Li Heng asked: "Is Li Ye following?"
"Li Ye?"
Chen Xuanli was stunned, shook his head and said: "Isn't he in Xiangyang? Could it be that he is here too?"
Chen Xuanli knew full well that the imperial concubine was rescued by Li Ye, but Chen Xuanli pretended to be the same. He must not admit that he had a secret deal with Li Ye, otherwise he would be left with nothing to lose.
Li Heng said calmly: "He told King Guangping that he would give us a ride secretly."
Chen Xuanli lowered his head and thought for a moment and said: "Weichen originally asked Dugu Jinyang to be the forward, but he found Weichen yesterday. He refused to be the forward no matter what. He insisted on delaying. Weichen agreed, and Weichen felt a little strange.
, Now that I think about it, it is probably related to Li Ye. During the last Feilong coup, he joined the Longwu Army in Dugu Jinyang. If I guessed correctly, he wanted to plot the Longwu Army or equipment. Last time he
I seized all the armor of the three thousand dragon warriors."
There is some truth in saying this, but now Li Heng has no mind to take care of Li Ye, he wants to retreat immediately.
Li Heng immediately left Sizhu Garden with his children, grandchildren and concubines, escorted by a thousand cavalry, and ran towards Yong County in the northwest.
It was getting daylight. Li Longji was sitting on the dragon couch and had been awake almost all night. At this time, Gao Lishi hurriedly walked in and said, "Your Majesty, we must set off!"
"Is there no news about my beloved concubine yet?" Li Longji asked in a hoarse voice.
"Your Majesty, we have been searching all night, covering a fifty-mile radius. We have asked almost all the farmers, but no one has seen her. It is very likely that the imperial concubine was taken away by someone. With Aunt Gongsun here, she must not be an ordinary person.
"
"Are you talking about that villain?" Li Longji's eyes showed deep hatred.
"Your Majesty, I can only say that he is the most suspect. Of course he will not admit it. But besides this, I really can't think of anyone else?"
"This damn scoundrel should have been killed a long time ago. I made a mistake. I hate him!"
"Your Majesty, it's really time to leave, otherwise the pursuers will arrive, and our carriages can't outrun the cavalry."
Li Longji let out a long sigh. "Let's set off! Arrange people to continue the search. If there is any news, notify me immediately."
"Wei Chen must do it!"
Li Longji boarded the carriage. Overnight, the Yang family was completely destroyed. Only Yang Yupei, the wife of Guo State, was left. Li Longji felt sad and got on the carriage and headed south.
Two days later, Prince Li Heng arrived at Yong County, where he met Dugu Lie, Yuan Yuan and Changsun Nanfang, as well as more than 30,000 troops, including 12,000 Longwu troops.
Li Heng was overjoyed and his heart dropped. He reassured everyone, and surrounded by an army of 30,000 people, he left Guanzhong and headed towards Lingwu.
At the same moment when Li Heng met the Guanlong nobles, An Lushan also entered Chang'an City.
Thirty thousand cavalry led by Sun Xiaozhe entered Chang'an City one day ago. They did not massacre Chang'an, but imposed strict martial law and curfew on Chang'an, and no one was allowed to leave their homes.
The streets were empty and the streets were silent. Chang'an seemed to be an empty city.
In the early morning, An Lushan's carriage, escorted by three thousand armored cavalry, entered Chang'an City from the Chunming Gate in the east. Looking at the majestic buildings on both sides, An Lushan felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction. He was also trembling with fear back then.
Entering through this city gate, I thought about how to deal with the dignitaries of Chang'an.
Now these dignitaries are kneeling at his feet, and they all look at his face with trepidation!
Hundreds of important court officials and clan members were kneeling on both sides of the street, led by two prime ministers, Chen Xilie and Zhang Jun. Both of them fled to their manors, but were reported and captured by An Lushan's army.
Dozens of officials and dignitaries had no time to escape, so they were captured one by one by the rebels from the mansion and ordered to welcome An Lushan at the city gate.
Everyone knelt down and shouted: "Welcome His Majesty the Emperor to the city!"
An Lushan saw Chen Xilie and Zhang Jun at a glance, and waved them forward. An Lushan squinted his eyes and asked, "Your emperor has escaped, why don't you two leave?"
There were different reasons why the two did not escape. Chen Xilie did not escape because he was sick and unwell. When he heard the news that An Lushan's army had entered the city, Chen Xilie broke out in a cold sweat and felt better.
Zhang Jun went to inspect Taiyuan. When he hurried back, he found that the emperor had left, so he had to hide in his own manor. Like Chen Xilie, both of them were reported by farmers in their respective manors.
Chen Xilie said with a flattering smile: "A bird chooses a good tree to rest on, so the old minister naturally chose to stay!"
An Lushan chuckled, "That's good, Mr. Chen, please continue to be prime minister for me!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness!"
An Lushan asked Zhang Jun again, "Where is Mr. Zhang? Why don't you escape with the emperor?"
Zhang Jun said after a while: "I am from Jingzhao and I don't want to leave my hometown!"
An Lushan nodded, "My brother and I have a close relationship. It's a pity that he was killed by a thief, so that's fine! I still have one less prime minister, so Zhang Xiangguo will continue to serve!"
Zhang Jun did not dare to disobey, so he had no choice but to thank him.
At this time, Cui Guangyuan, the Shaoyin of Jingzhao, Su Zhen, the magistrate of Chang'an County, and Ji Wen, the minister of Dali Temple, were also brought here.
An Lushan praised Cui Guangyuan and Su Zhen for their merits in maintaining order, and promoted Cui Guangyuan to Jingzhao Yin and Su Zhen to Jingzhao Shaoyin.
Jiwen and Anlushan had good old friendships, and Anlushan promoted him to the position of Minister of the Ministry of Personnel and Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.
All the other surrendered officials were rewarded, and everyone was very happy for a while.
An Lushan also ordered that a total of eighty-three people, including members of the Tang Dynasty clan, relatives, etc., be killed and their heads hung at the city gate.
An Lushan also inspected Taicang and Zuozang warehouses. He was overjoyed when he saw that the warehouses were well preserved and praised Cui Guangyuan for his ability to protect the warehouses.
Cui Guangyuan stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, it is not because of the incompetent ministers, but during the chaos in Chang'an, a Chang'an warrior led five hundred Chang'an children to form a red and black stick team to specifically attack the thieves and robbers. They even killed them.
Hundreds of thugs tried to loot Zuozang's warehouse, but the warehouse was saved!"
An Lushan was overjoyed and quickly ordered someone to find the strong man. He wanted to receive him personally.