According to market rumors, the relationship between Gao Lishi and Li Bai was not good.
It is said that because Li Bai was drunk, he asked Gao Lishi to take off his boots. Gao Lishi was so angry that he slandered and exiled Li Bai.
This statement somewhat underestimates the ruthlessness of Gao Lishi. Although he looks cheerful, if someone really angers him, it will not be as simple as banishing him once he takes action.
As for his relationship with Li Bai? Who in the world doesn’t like Li Bai? How many people is Gao Lishi willing to take off his boots?
Hearing Li Bai's name at this time, Gao Lishi immediately asked attentively: "Li Qinglian? How could he go to Fan Yang?"
"He said that 'a Confucian scholar is not as good as a knight-errant,' and that he would go to the battlefield in the north and 'sprinkle red blood' with his bare blade to serve the country and make meritorious service."
Speaking of Li Bai, even Feng Shenwei seems a bit romantic.
"Nonsense." Gao Lishi snorted coldly and scolded: "Fan Yang is a land of tigers and wolves. What's the use of him being a scholar?"
"yes."
Feng Shenwei thought to himself, it turned out that my grandfather had always known that An Lushan was ambitious.
"At that time, the child was living in the post house. Suddenly someone brought hot water. He was dressed as a soldier of Fan Yang, with a felt hat on his head and a beard. When he opened his mouth, I knew it was Li Bai. He had been in Fan Yang for a year.
, I found out that An Lushan’s crusade against the Khitan last year was actually a big defeat. In order to cover up the defeat, he bribed soldiers in the army and eliminated dissidents. Later, he conspired with the Khitan King Li Huaixiu to trade privately and gave the Khitan a large amount of food and iron tools.
, now the people in Fanyang area are boiling, and they are all looking forward to rebellion..."
The information that Li Bai spent time and effort to find out was obviously much more detailed than Feng Shenwei's experience in just a few days.
He mentioned the plight of several families of soldiers who died in the Khitan war. If they were willing to cover up their defeat and continue to support An Lushan, they could receive rewards. But if they dared to mention to merchants the experience of their fathers or husbands dying in the war, they would be rewarded.
He became a prisoner. An Lushan became the sole ruler of the North.
It is also said that Anlushan bought a large number of strong Hu'er soldiers as private soldiers and gave them generous rewards. These people only knew about Anlushan but did not know about the imperial court, and they agitated to invade Chang'an every day.
Li Bai narrates it from a personal perspective of what he saw in Youzhou. The woman who lost her husband, the high-spirited Hu'er, the court officials who dared not interfere in everything... created a scene of excitement.
After hearing this, Gao Lishi was silent for a long time and murmured: "You should go directly to see the saint."
Feng Shenwei asked: "Master, are you saying that the child should tell the saint all this?"
"I just went to see King Jianning a few days ago."
Gao Lishi slowly sat down on the chair with a sigh in his tone.
He believed that the saint was a very sensitive person. Now that Feng Shenwei was going to meet the saint again, the saint would inevitably think that someone was plotting to frame An Lushan.
Feng Shenwei felt this emotion. After waiting for a while, seeing that Gao Lishi didn't speak anymore, he asked: "Then, will the child still report it?"
Gao Lishi didn't answer, his eyes flashed with thought.
He suddenly stood up, called over a young eunuch named Wei Yue, and said, "Have you gone to see if the saint has risen? Is Yuan Siyi still in front of the emperor? Ask him if he can come."
"Here."
Wei Yue left quickly, but this time while waiting for his return, Gao Lishi felt that time passed extremely slowly.
He paced back and forth in the room, rubbing his face as usual to make it no longer stiff so that he could put on a peaceful smile, but he still felt anxious.
finally.
"Returning to General Gao, the saint has not risen yet, and General Yuan is not in front of the emperor."
"Where did he go?" Gao Lishi asked immediately.
The eunuchs under him are very good at doing things. When they go out to inquire about news, they hear that Yuan Siyi is not here and ask him where he is. This is the most basic ability. But today, Wei Yue replied: "I asked, but how many people in front of the emperor are here?"
People all say they don’t know.”
"Call Li Dayi and ask him to inquire."
"Here."
Gao Lishi turned to look at Feng Shenwei and said, "Did An Lushan send someone to come back with you?"
"yes."
"Obviously, the people in An Lushan are already complaining to Yuan Siyi and asking him to explain it in front of the emperor."
Feng Shenwei felt uneasy and asked: "What should we do?"
"When the saint wakes up, I will go with you to meet him."
After Gao Lishi said that, he closed his eyes and rested his mind. His posture was slightly different from usual, and he would occasionally open his eyes to take a look.
I don’t know how many times he opened his eyes, but Li Dayi rushed there in a hurry.
"Grandpa."
"Where did Yuan Siyi go?"
"He is interviewing the saint." Li Dayi said, "Feng Shenwei just came back, and Yuan Siyi went to interview the saint."
Gao Lishi said: "The saint has not yet awakened..."
"Yuan Siyi's people deceived Wei Yue."
Although Li Dayi didn't know what happened specifically, but Yuan Siyi's people put him in such a position, his face became a little ugly and said: "Yuan Siyi doesn't know what is important, he has been in the Xingqing Hall, and has people blocking others from seeing the saint."
Feng Shenwei opened his mouth but stopped talking.
The situation was obviously much worse than he expected.
Gao Lishi calmed down instead, stood up and said, "Let's go, let's go and see him too."
~~
Xue Bai has returned to Chang'an from Lantian, declined a banquet, and seems to be very leisurely at home every day.
But Feng Shenwei had just arrived in Beijing, and he immediately went to Du's house.
Du Wulang was sitting in the yard basking in the sun with his daughter in his arms, saying some silly things. When he heard the noise, he turned around and saw Xue Bai, and said in a low voice: "The godfather is here, let him hold him
hug."
Xue Bai didn't dare to hold the child and didn't know where to start. He declined Du Wulang's request and just stood aside and watched.
In just a moment, there was another carriage movement in the front yard, but it was the Du sisters who came back.
"Eh."
Du Wulang said: "Today is strange. I don't think anything big happened. You are all here."
He looked stupid, but he knew that they must have come to meet.
Du Jin was too lazy to pay attention to him. She stepped forward and pinched her niece's little face before walking in. Du Jin said to Xue Bai, "It's boring to sit here in the courtyard. Why don't you go to the back garden and have a cup of tea?"
"Being respectful is worse than obeying orders."
Du Wulang shook his head, secretly mocking them for still pretending not to be familiar with each other.
These people met mysteriously and plotted all day long, but he didn't bother to get involved and continued to hum a tune and gently rock the milky-smelling child in his arms.
After a while, there was a horse neighing again, but it was endless.
"Let's go, we're not staying here anymore."
"Eh, eh."
Du Wulang just stood up and saw a knight rushing to the front door and said: "Du Canjun, King Jianning asked you to go to Baisun Courtyard."
If it weren't for this claim, Du Wulang would have forgotten that he also had an official position in the royal palace and joined the army.
~~
"Feng Shenwei is back."
"What's his attitude?"
"We can't find out anything after entering the palace, but one thing is that the first thing he did when he entered Chang'an was to send someone to see if Gao Lishi was in the house outside the palace."
Xue Bai pondered: "Let's go see Gao Lishi first. He must have encountered a lot of setbacks in Fan Yang."
Du Jin leaned forward and said, "Fan Yang sent two teams. One team came back to guard Feng Shenwei, and the other team must have met Yuan Siyi a few days in advance."
"Borrowed?"
"It must have been bribed. Yuan Siyi was on duty in the palace for two or three days in a row." Du Jin said, "Gao Lishi has been very free these days and has been meddling in your business."
"Really?" Xue Bai felt her scrutiny and touched his nose.
Du Mei helped him out intentionally or unintentionally, saying: "So Yuan Siyi is planning to put in a good word for An Lushan in front of the saint."
"It doesn't matter, our current strategy is to temporarily appease An Lushan and not force him to rebel."
"Yes, in addition, if Feng Shenwei can make Gao Lishi realize the seriousness of the situation, it may not be a good thing for us."
"I'm waiting for his attitude." Xue Bai leaned back, leaning on the rockery, stretching his posture, and said: "If he also supports us, we will be successful."
The power he is talking about now refers to Li Cong and Li Tan, the new and old forces in the Eastern Palace, plus the power he has accumulated and the power he has drawn from Li Linfu's disciples. If Gao Lishi has the full support, many things can be done.
Of course, it is not easy to obtain the full support of Gao Lishi. It also depends on Li Longji's attitude towards Feng Shenwei's report this time.
He had to wait, but fortunately, he was not in a hurry at the Du family and could wait.
At noon, because Du You Neighbor was still at the Yamen and had not returned from official duties, Du Zhai did not call them to eat. The three of them stayed until the afternoon. They were very hungry, so Du Jin ordered someone to go to Fengwei Building to get a food box.
"Er Niang, there is news."
Also delivered with the food box was Gao Lishi's movements.
"Gao Lishi was not on duty today, but he and Feng Shenwei went to Xingqing Palace early in the morning, and in the afternoon they went to Baisun Courtyard."
"Meet Li Tan?"
"Yes, Prince Jianning's Mansion."
Xue Bai was slightly disapproving of the fact that Gao Lishi went to Li Tan first instead of coming to him when something happened. He smiled and said, "That's fine, this is a clue."
~~
Baisun Courtyard, Prince Jianning's Mansion.
It is said to be a palace, but it is actually a group of houses with adjacent walls and no privacy.
For example, a few days ago, Li Fu, the king of Jiyin County, had an affair with a maid in the backyard, and the news soon spread to Li Tan's house.
Under such an environment, the so-called long history, Sima, and military service in the princes' palaces are naturally just fake. They don't have to go to the Yamen on weekdays. They are just getting an extra salary.
Du Wulang, the prince, could not put off joining the army at first, but he came to accompany Li Tan to study and hunt a few times, and then he gradually became lazy.
Today, he was staying at home well, but he was suddenly called over and had to do an extra job for nothing. Naturally, he was unwilling to do so. He simply rode a donkey and walked lazily from Shengpingfang to Yongxingfang, thinking that it would be late.
When you reach a certain amount, do less.
After finally arriving, Li Tan was already looking forward to seeing him. He was pacing in the front yard. When he saw him coming, he immediately rushed forward and asked, "Did you know that Feng Shenwei returned to Beijing from Fan Yang? How did Xue Bai react to this?"
?”
"I don't know." Du Wulang responded cheerfully.
"This is a big deal, please answer me."
"I really don't know. I don't even know who Feng Shenwei is."
Li Tan waited for at least an hour, but received such a useless and sincere answer, he was stunned for a moment.
Du Wulang was not ashamed and had no self-consciousness as a subordinate of the royal family.
He didn't want to get this job, it was forced on him by others. Besides, the salary was not high, far inferior to the dividend he received from Fengwei Building. He thought he had no responsibility to inquire about this for Li Tan.
I don’t know how long this silent atmosphere lasted. Just when Li Tan wanted to explain his cooperative relationship with Xue Bai, a servant came forward to report.
"Sanlang, General Gao is here."
"What?"
If Gao Lishi's first visit was a surprise to Li Tan, then his second visit in a short period of time made him extremely nervous and uneasy.
Of course, it was impossible for him not to see Gao Lishi and said: "I will go and greet him personally."
Du Wulang saw him and said, "Then shall I go back first?"
Li Tan was a little helpless with his lazy temperament and said, "Why don't you just leave like this? I still have important things to discuss with you."
"Me? What can I be of use to?"
Du Wulang was very self-aware, so he walked to the door with Li Tan. When he saw Gao Lishi, he turned sideways to go out.
"Is that Du Qi, the fifth son of the Du family?"
"ah?"
Du Wulang was not familiar with Gao Lishi, so he subconsciously looked around and realized that he must be calling him, and he couldn't avoid it, so he stepped forward and saluted, "I have seen General Gao."
"Let's stay and chat together."
Gao Lishi said casually, and without waiting for him to refuse, he walked forward openly and entered the hall with Li Tan.
Du Wulang was a little anxious to urinate, but he had no choice but to follow him in. There were several people standing guard outside the hospital, but they only let him in, which showed that his status was not low.
"Earlier in Huaqing Palace, Sun Xiaozhe killed Wang Zhongsi with a knife. The saint ordered Feng Shenwei to escort him to Fanyang to see what An Lushan would do. Now, Feng Shenwei is back..."
Gao Lishi slowly described the cause and effect. After Du Wulang listened, he realized that this was what happened. He didn't talk much anyway and just listened to their conversation.
Later, when talking about what Feng Shenwei had seen in Fan Yang, Li Tan was not surprised by An Lushan's rebellious behavior. Instead, he thought of his conversation with Xue Bai at that time and thought that Xue Bai was very prescient.
Finally, Li Tan asked: "Can General Gao report these situations to the saint?"
Gao Lishi nodded but said nothing.
Li Tan asked: "Does the saint have any instructions on how to deal with it?"
"If the saint had told you how to deal with it, I wouldn't have come to see you, King Jianning."
"Sages don't believe it?"
The first thing Li Tan thought was not that Gao Lishi's visit would bring him countless troubles, but that he couldn't believe that the saint still didn't believe An Lushan's rebellious intentions.
"Why don't you believe it?" he asked again.
"Before I met the saint, Yuan Siyi had already taken the lead and expressed many grievances on behalf of An Lushan." Gao Lishi said: "An Lushan heard about Sun Xiaozhe's behavior in Lishan and ordered him to be severely whipped. He just considered the Khitan generals.
He was not executed because of his feelings. He also said that Feng Shenwei asked for bribes from him and was greedy. Finally, he said that there was a group of party members in the court who were crowding out and suppressing him. He was willing to resign from the post of Fan Yang and Pinglu Jiedu..."
"Then let him resign." Li Tan snorted coldly.
"It is precisely because he knew that the saint would not depose him that he acted like this." Gao Lishi said: "I should not have come here. It only increased the saint's suspicion. Instead, it confirmed what An Lushan said. We colluded to exclude him."
Du Wulang deeply believed in this last sentence.
Gao Lishi changed the subject and added: "But it is not appropriate to always follow the saints. For fear of being suspected, you will say nothing or do nothing. If things go on like this, the country will be ruined, so I am here anyway..."
It is hard to imagine that these words came from the mouth of a eunuch.
But if you think about it carefully, in many matters, when no one else dared to persuade the saint, Gao Lishi was the only one who dared to speak. For example, after the three commoners case, Li Heng was elected as the prince; for example, Li Longji became the king
When nothing happens, when power is to be handed over to Li Linfu... These are major events that will really hurt the foundation of the Tang Dynasty. In such matters, Gao Lishi, who is the most obedient to the will of the Holy Spirit, is the most active person to change the situation.
Gao Lishi came today to express his support for the plan discussed by Li Tan and Xue Bai to jointly solve the internal and external troubles of the Tang Dynasty, and to increase their voice in the court.
Therefore, he did not hesitate to express his stance to Li Tan, saying: "If King Jianning is interested in the country and has a way to prevent the unrest, I will definitely help him."
Li Tan was a person who dared to fight for something. He hoped that Gao Lishi could give more support, such as taking the lead in taking charge, rather than just expressing his stance, so he asked, "Can't General Gao persuade the saint in person?"
"You are old, you young people should think of something."
Gao Lishi sighed and made a gesture of supporting his knees to prepare to leave.
As for the "you" he said, of course he was not referring to Du Wulang, but to Li Tan and Xue Bai.
In addition, regarding Xue Bai's life experience, he had always speculated that Xue Bai was Li Ying's son. He had complicated feelings about this. Although he helped protect each other, he was worried about causing greater chaos. And Xue Bai and Li Tan teamed up, so he was a
Best results.
After observing for the past two years, Li Tan has gradually become Gao Lishi's favorite grandson, especially after Li Chu was involved in a major case during the fireworks ceremony.
Today, Gao Lishi came to see Li Tan instead of Xue Bai, which also revealed this hope...
Naturally, Du Wulang couldn't understand the meaning that was hidden so deeply.
He heard Gao Lishi say that he would leave the difficult problem to them young people, and he couldn't help but let out a soft sigh.
Li Tan was frowning and discussing. Hearing this, he looked at Du Wulang and asked, "Does Wulang have any idea?"
Du Wulang was in urgent need of urination. There was nothing he could do, so he shook his head.
"How difficult it would be to deal with An Lushan without forcing him to do anything."
"What is more important now is to convince the saint that he has disloyal intentions." Li Tan pondered and asked, "Isn't it true that the saint has no suspicion at all?"
If the saint really had no doubts about An Lushan, Gao Lishi would not dare to leave the palace to contact him. Obviously, the saint still has the intention to observe the situation to some extent.
Li Tan didn't need to answer. He looked at Gao Lishi's eyes and confirmed this.
He then murmured to himself: "I have to find a way to test Anlu Mountain for the saint..."
Du Wulang tried his best to clamp his legs, and almost stamped his feet because he was in a hurry to urinate. He couldn't stand their slow discussion, so he blurted out: "Isn't that simple?"
"Do you have any idea?"
"Let the saint call An Lushan back as prime minister... I'll go change my clothes first!"
After Du Wulang said that, he ran away like a gust of wind.
He didn't understand why they had to discuss and discuss such a simple matter, instead of just giving such substantive suggestions.
Of course, Gao Lishi and Li Tan had known for a long time that they could transfer the generals back to serve as prime ministers. This was the tradition of the Tang Dynasty, and it was certainly not a method that only Du Wulang could think of.
Their conversation was to test the attitudes of both parties. For example, their stance on this matter, how much trust they could give each other, how much effort they would allocate to each other in this matter, and how much profit they would make. After reaching such a consensus, things would be much simpler.
Looking at Du Wulang's back, Li Tan shook his head and said with a smile: "He actually lives a simple life."
~~
When the dusk drum in Chang'an City rang to the last note, Du Wulang could only lead the donkey and ran into the side door of Du's house.
He was so tired that he stood there with his knees up, panting, and couldn't get up for a long time. After a while, he looked up and saw Xue Bai standing not far away, looking at him.
"Please help me."
"If you don't eat so much and are too lazy to cook normally, you won't be out of breath like this."
"No...I'm so tired because of pulling this stupid donkey. It's curfew, you can't leave."
"Then let's stay the night."
Xue Bai said calmly. As he spoke, he glanced at the side door again. Seeing that no one was coming, he turned around and went in.
Today he was waiting for Gao Lishi to send someone to find him, because he was the first to realize that An Lushan was about to rebel and to take precautions. But in the end, he only waited for Du Wulang to come back.
Xue Bai can also understand, after all, many things depend on status.
The two of them walked to the backyard.
Du Wulang rarely experienced the feeling of him being involved in important events, and Xue Bai had to listen to what he told him, and rambled on about today's experience.
"I probably understand what's going on. You have formed a new faction, let's call it 'New East Palace'. Now you want to stop An Lushan's rebellion, and this purpose has made you unite."
"Almost."
Du Wulang knew that Xue Bai had the most enterprising temperament, so he deliberately teased him and said, "But they didn't even take you with them in the discussion. They just asked me to deliver the message to you."
However, Xue Bai was not angry. Instead, he smiled resolutely and said, "But do you know? The existence of this 'New Donggong' series is already the result of my efforts. All of this was made possible by me."
.”
Du Wulang was stunned for a moment, then turned to look at Xue Bai. Sometimes he would envy this kind of hard-working and fruitful state. In fact, sometimes he wanted to imitate it, but after working hard, he found out again within two days.
I don't need it myself.
He then stopped teasing Xue Bai, and felt a little aggrieved for him, saying, "But you are the one with the lowest status here."
"Don't even think about it. Those are Gao Lishi and Li Tan. Can ordinary people win over them?"
"Too."
Regarding everyone's position, they only discussed this point, and Du Wulang quickly mentioned specific matters.
"My idea was to let An Lushan return to the court and serve as prime minister. An Lushan will definitely not come back by then, which proves that he wants to rebel. Am I very smart?"
"It can be done this way, but you are not very smart."
"Why?"
Xue Bai said: "You came up with the idea, so this matter fell on me."
"ah?"
Xue Bai smiled and said: "Although An Lushan will definitely not come back, once the matter is brought up, Yang Guozhong will definitely oppose it. That person only cares about his own interests, and there will inevitably be a conflict. At that time, Fan Yang's various countermeasures will be used by both the government and the opposition.
The objections from up and down are all directed at me... Although it's not too troublesome, it can be regarded as a little joke between Gao Lishi and Li Tan."
Only then did Du Wulang understand why Li Tan didn't tell Gao Lishi such a simple method and such a clever idea.
People's seemingly long words are actually blending and coordinating.
For example, today Gao Lishi and Li Tan were sitting there roasting potatoes, discussing who would eat them, who would add fuel to the fire, and who would peel them. Du Wulang was in a hurry to urinate and was impatient, so he said, "Isn't this simple?"
So, the hot potato was handed over to him, but he couldn't peel it and didn't feel it was hot, so he happily took it back and gave it to Xue Bai.
Du Wulang scratched his head and said, "Then you push it back and let them do it?"
"It's impossible and it's not necessary."
Xue Bai knew that Gao Lishi took a risk when he came out of the palace to express his position, and Li Tan was not a person who only cared about personal interests. They all had a heart to protect the Tang Dynasty. If everyone wanted to work together, it was inevitable that someone would have to bear more.
Du Wulang said "Oh" and said: "I just realized that there are so many twists and turns."
Today, there are too many people in the DPRK who are prevaricating and waiting to see what they do. Gao Lishi and Li Tan have actually made up their minds.
However, some people who are said not to be officials are more straightforward in doing things. For example, Li Bai was able to go to Fanyang with just his passion.
Xue Bai was thinking about this and was too lazy to care about the attitude of the strongman. He said casually: "Since you have already discussed it, let's take care of the rest of 'Xiao Xue'."