Li Heng was riding his horse westward surrounded by people when he suddenly heard such shouting from behind. When he turned around, he saw a knight coming from the east, shouting at the same time.
"Bring him here." Li Heng ordered.
After a while, the knight was brought to him, with excitement still on his face.
"His Majesty has passed away, who asked you to announce it like this?"
"Back to King Zhong, General Chen found Your Majesty! I ordered the villain to come and inform the large group of people to stop the progress."
"What are you talking about?"
"Really, General Chen met with His Majesty and announced the matter personally."
Li Heng's eyes narrowed and he was about to have a seizure. He soon realized that there were others around him. A slightly weird smile appeared on his face, he opened his lips and uttered a word.
"good!"
He was extremely pleasantly surprised and said: "It would be great if Your Majesty is still here! Go and confirm the news quickly, don't let me down."
He arranged for two confidants to take the messenger to rest, and told them not to make any announcements until the matter was confirmed. After that, Li Heng turned to the carriage at the rear and opened the curtain directly.
The car curtains were lowered, and the smile on his face instantly faded, becoming gloomy.
"What?" Zhang Ting asked.
"You came up with a good idea." Li Heng gritted his teeth and squeezed out a sentence, trying to control his panic and anger, and said: "Right now, both the saint and Xue Bai are alive, what do you want me to do?!"
Zhang Ting quickly understood what he was talking about, and was so shocked that his pupils dilated and he murmured: "What? Not dead? It's such a big fire, but they're not dead yet."
The idea was indeed hers. Because Li Heng was anxious to take the team to Heshuo, she first persuaded him to set fire to the mountain. But after the fire was extinguished, many important ministers still insisted on finding the saint, saying, "You want to see people alive, you want to die."
"See the corpse", Li Heng also felt threatened by Li Wan, and always said uneasily "the night is long and the dream is many", so Zhang Ting once again proposed to make a play in which the saint was killed by Xue Bai, and it would be over.
They thought well at first. The saint and Xue Bai were most likely dead. If this matter was confirmed as Li Cong's major crime, Li Heng would be able to legitimately ascend the throne. Even if the saint appeared again later, everything would be cooked.
Well, when the time comes, it will be Li Heng, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, who has the power to judge whether someone is pretending to be the emperor.
However, Xue Bai's reaction was too fast, and Li Heng didn't even have time to lead the imperial army out of Guanzhong.
"They shouldn't be allowed to see Chen Xuanli."
Zhang Ting quickly realized the discrepancy between the development of the situation and the plan, and asked: "How did Li Chu do things? Why didn't he stop this from the beginning?"
"How can he stop him?" Li Heng asked, "Can't he do it? That's a saint!"
"So what?" Zhang Ting was surprised, stared at him, and asked: "When things come to a close, are you still soft-hearted? Do you know what will happen to us once we let the old man come back alive?"
Li Heng swallowed and said nothing, but he could not hide the fear in his eyes.
What he fears is the act of regicide and patricide itself. It must be said that there is a very big difference in degree between setting fire to a mountain and killing a king with real swords and guns.
Zhang Ting was very angry. At this moment, she saw Li Heng's cowardice and luck.
Since ancient times, many people have dared to secretly frame their parents and brothers in order to compete for the throne, but the only one who could decisively kill his brother with an arrow in broad daylight in full view of the public was Emperor Taizong. It is easy to kill someone in secret, but it takes great courage to face the overwhelming public opinion and historical commentary.
, Li Heng is far from having such courage.
She couldn't help but said: "What I should hear is not 'the saint is still alive', but 'someone is pretending to be a saint'."
The couple were still discussing here, and Li Chu's envoy also arrived to ask Li Heng what to do.
"Your Highness, King Guangping asked, is it possible to bring everyone back?"
Li Heng hesitated for a moment and said, "Yes."
"No!" Zhang Ting pulled him over and whispered: "Don't you understand? The fire has just been extinguished. Why is Xue Bai so impatient for the saint to show up that he is not afraid of you killing him? Because he is more afraid of you.
Take people to Heshuo! Bring the saint back now, just in case they control the imperial army."
"What do you want me to do?"
"We must start as early as possible. The longer we delay, the more out of control the situation will be." Zhang Ting urged, "Let Li Chu do it quickly."
"But how dare he take action?"
Li Chu objected to Xue Bai's false appearance of regicide from the beginning. Li Heng knew that the eldest son had a soft ear, so he persuaded him hard before he agreed. They found a few confidants and chose a palace concubine to pretend to be Yang Yuhuan. At first, they did not
He said he wanted their lives, but Li Chu'er was not soft-hearted, and finally shot them all. However, it is not difficult to be cruel to the lives of his subordinates, but when facing a real saint, the situation is different.
Zhang Ting actually understood Li Chu better, snorted coldly and said: "Now that things have happened, does he still have a way out? What he is waiting for is nothing more than a clear statement from you."
"What do you mean?"
"Just let him do it."
Li Heng soon figured out that bringing the living saint back would be the worst possible outcome.
But the order for Li Chu to take action could not be left on paper. He looked around and saw that this matter could not be handled by any officials or soldiers. Only a few eunuchs around him could be trusted, so he summoned Li Fuguo and whispered a few words in his ear.
, said: "Go right away."
"Here."
When Li Fuguo first entered the palace, he never thought that one day he would be able to participate in such a major world event. Fortunately, he was able to cope with it and hurriedly mounted his horse and left.
Compared with Li Chu who had to refuse first to make a show, Li Fuguo, the eunuch, was more decisive when encountering problems, which made Li Heng feel his loyalty. He even looked back at Li Fuguo's back.
"Your Highness, we must not let the team stop," Zhang Ting said, "Instead, we should speed up the journey."
"Okay." Li Heng sighed tiredly, caressed her back, and said with emotion: "Fortunately, I have you, my sons, and the eunuchs around me are also very capable."
"That's because His Highness is generous and tolerant of others."
Li Heng nodded sadly. During the most difficult moments in the past and now, he had established solid trust in the women and eunuchs around him.
~~
The walls of Chencang Mountain are ten thousand feet high, and clouds are slowly floating behind the peak.
Li Chu looked at the mountain road between the two mountains and felt anxious. He wanted to send people in to kill Xue Bai and "rescue" the saint, but he was not confident that he would not make mistakes, for fear that the saint would incite the imperial army under his command.
"Brother," Li Tan said, "Shall we talk?"
"Um."
The two brothers then drove their horses away from the soldiers and faced each other on the banks of the Wei River.
Finally, Li Tan asked: "Before leaving the customs, the scene of Xue Bai's regicide was actually performed by my brother?"
"You just found out that it was Xue Bai who sent someone..."
"I'm just going to find a step for my brother to get off." Li Tan said, "Don't deceive yourself."
Li Chu sighed: "Sanlang, are you doubting me?"
"That's not what I meant."
"I thought the saint would not be spared from such a fire." Li Chu said, "The situation is like this again. Outside there is Hu Jie causing chaos, and inside there is King Qing forcing the palace. If we don't organize the army to the northwest as soon as possible, we will have to guard a cloud of ashes and suffer.
Searching hard will only make some people have thoughts they shouldn't have."
Li Tan asked: "Brother, was he worried that King Rong would take the opportunity to cause trouble, so he took this step?"
"good."
"But now that the saint is here, why isn't my brother happy?"
Li Chu was surprised and asked: "When did I become unhappy?"
Li Tan said: "I can see it."
This sentence made Li Chu's eyes look even more gloomy.
"I can see it, and so can others." Li Tan said, "There is no need for Xue Bai to prove anything. I just see your reaction when you hear that the saint is alive. Anyone who is interested will understand what is going on."
"Then what do you think we should do?"
"The soldiers are not stupid. They know what is going on. They will definitely not dare to follow my brother... and refuse to recognize the saint." Li Tan actually never revealed Li Chu's thoughts on this matter, and said: "The only way to meet him now is to welcome him.
Go back to the saint, ask the saint to issue an edict, and continue to Heshuo."
At this time.
"King Guangping, the sage has an oral message!"
Li Chu turned around and saw a knight under Chen Xuanli coming over and said loudly: "Summon Li Chu, King of Guangping, to see him and explain the mountain fire and regicide!"
As soon as this statement came out, the Imperial Guards immediately started talking about it.
Li Chu did not expect that before he could make up his mind to attack Xue Bai, he would be forced into a dilemma by Xue Bai.
At this moment, a fast horse ran towards him. It was Li Fuguo who had arrived.
Li Fuguo had a better personal relationship with Li Tan before, but today he avoided Li Tan, pulled Li Chu over, and whispered a few words.
~~
Randen Temple.
Xue Bai sat cross-legged under an ancient tree, as if an old monk was in meditation.
After he finished telling the whole story, he stopped explaining too much and left Chen Xuanli and others to decide who they should believe or who they were willing to believe.
"Xue Bai, you are all safe and sound, but the saint's face was burned. Don't you think it's too suspicious?" Chen Xuanli came over and asked in a deep voice.
"Are you safe?" Xue Bai said, "General Chen, does he know how many people were killed in this fire?"
"I don't care..."
"There are more than two hundred corpses that I have seen with my own eyes, but only seven people survived in the mountains, and fourteen people died to protect the saint. When you say 'safe and sound', do you think we died less?
Then go to Chang'an and have a look, go to Henan, go to Hebei, where many people died."
Chen Xuanli said angrily: "I'm not talking about these, I'm talking about the face of a saint. Do you know how important the emperor's appearance is?! If you don't know, you can ask King Qing."
"If General Chen suspects that the saint is lying, he can draw his sword to kill us and go to Li Heng."
"you!"
Xue Bai stopped answering. He did not intend to get stuck in the quagmire of explanation. Instead of doing that, it was better to let Li Chu's reaction strengthen the confidence of these people.
He had already asked Chen Xuanli to pass the edict to Li Chu, and was just waiting for the result.
Who is rebellious knows best.
Finally, a message came from the other side of the mountain road, and someone said: "King Guangping has come to see His Majesty."
Xue Bai opened his eyes and said, "Let's go. When King Guangping and the Saint explain things clearly in person, General Chen will naturally know the truth."
He got up and walked towards the mountain road, and soon saw Li Chu coming this way with some of his close men.
Li Chu was wearing battle armor and looked heroic. When he raised his head and looked up, his eyes showed a wolf-like look. He climbed up the stairs step by step, and finally saw Xue Bai from a distance when he was about to reach the Randen Temple.
"Get Xue Ni!"
Almost immediately, Li Chu raised a crossbow.
Chen Xuanli was beside Xue Bai. He immediately had someone protect him and shouted: "Stop! King Guangping will wait until the confrontation is clear before taking action!"
At the same time, Zhang Xiaojing said: "The saint has a decree to capture Li Chu! I have reported to the saint that it was Li Heng and his son who ordered me to take action..."
Before he finished shouting, Li Chu knew what Zhang Xiaojing was talking about, so he immediately turned the direction of the crossbow and shot an arrow at Zhang Xiaojing.
"stop!"
"Whoosh."
Zhang Xiaojing rolled on the spot and shouted: "Get him!"
"puff."
Li Chu and the soldiers behind him quickly drew their swords and rushed towards the Randen Temple. Anyone who dared to stop them would be killed.
Chen Xuanli was so shocked that he quickly retreated into the temple and asked people to close the temple door without caring about the people left outside the temple.
"Quickly, close the door! Protect His Majesty! King Guangping, are you crazy?!"
Li Chu heard the words "protect your majesty", and his murderous intention became stronger, and he shouted: "Xue Ni killed the emperor, falsely conveyed the holy will, and punished him. Anyone who dares to help him will be regarded as an accomplice!"
"kill!"
Li Wan was originally talking to Wei Jiansu at the gate. When he suddenly encountered this situation, he was shocked and excited, and shouted: "Li Heng and his son have rebelled! Go and summon the Imperial Army to put down the rebellion!"
Before he finished speaking, he discovered that Li Chu had loaded another crossbow and pointed it directly at him.
"Prince Rong, let's go."
"puff."
A crossbow arrow hit Li Wan's thigh, and he fell to the ground, terrified.
"Help me quickly! Close the door, close the door!"
He originally thought that his brothers would either die or be regarded as treasonous, and the reserve position would naturally fall to him. But when he felt severe pain, he realized that the battle for the reserve position was far more cruel than he expected.
As soon as they saw Li Wan being shot down, some of Li Chu's confidants immediately ran to the imperial guards at the foot of the mountain and shouted: "The matter has been found out. King Rong is treasonous and has made people pretend to be saints!"
Here, Li Chu's eyes became more fierce, he rushed to the temple gate and immediately ordered his men to knock on the door.
"Bang!"
The dilapidated wooden door had just been hit for the first time and was already crumbling.
Sawdust and sand fell down, confusing Li Chu's eyes. He raised his hands and rubbed them, tears streaming down his face.
He thought of the story he had heard since he was a child. It was said that when he was full moon, the saint came to see him at the Ten Kings' House and held him in his arms. At that time, a eunuch said, "There are three emperors in this house." He was the eldest son, and his
Grandpa is the crown prince of the Tang Dynasty, so of course he will become the emperor sooner or later.
But he was still so young, but the Tang Dynasty was already in such chaos. If no one stood up, it would really fall apart like the Yongjia Rebellion.
"Bang!"
The door of Randen Temple was knocked open. Li Chu looked up with red eyes and saw the mottled Buddha statue holding flowers and smiling at him.
For a husband who has a country, the greatest filial piety is to preserve the country. Why should it be a mere family relationship?
"Kill the traitor!"
Li Chu shed tears, shouted, and killed without hesitation.
After running through the main hall, I saw Chen Xuanli, Xue Bai and others helping a figure wearing a torn imperial robe to climb up the steep mountain path behind the temple.
"Don't let them escape..."
Li Chu raised his crossbow again and stared at them. Suddenly, in the chaos, the saint turned back and glanced at him. His face was actually wrapped in a wrapping cloth, revealing half of his burned face.
"saint?"
Li Chu was stunned for a moment, and suddenly realized that he had fallen into a trap.
As Zhang Ting said, it is difficult for a saint to survive such a fire with his old body. Instead of searching hard, it is better to confirm the news of his death. Xue Bai really failed to save the saint, so he had his face disfigured instead, otherwise he would have been burned.
The face, the royal robe is in ruins but still recognizable?
At this time, it seems that it is difficult for Xue Bai to prove that this saint is real. But damn, his overreaction has completely pushed Chen Xuanli, Wei Jiansu and others to the opposite side.
All the worries he had before seemed very ridiculous now. If Li Chu didn't have a guilty conscience, he could have come to greet the saint happily and discovered something was wrong earlier.
These thoughts flashed through Li Chu's mind. At this point, he could only go one way to the end. As long as he killed Xue Bai or even Chen Xuanli, everything would be solved and the Forbidden Army would be better controlled.
"Did you see it? They are pretending to be saints and deserve death. Kill them!"
When they reached the back mountain path, they were caught off guard and a sharp arrow shot over with a sound of breaking the wind.
Li Chu was startled. He stopped and tried to block with his sword, but it was blocked. When he lowered his head, he saw that the arrow was stuck in the ground at his feet. It penetrated a few inches and the arrow feathers were shaking slightly.
Ambush.
He took a few steps back, raised his head, and saw figures standing in the mountains.
"Guo Qianli?!" Li Chu asked in shock: "Why are you here?!"
Guo Qianli held a big bow and spat: "King Zhong ordered me to search and rescue the saint, and took the opportunity to occupy Sanguan. Of course I have to find the saint!"
That night, after Xue Bai kidnapped the saint, he was not trusted anymore. When a fire broke out, he was sent to put out the fire. As a result, Sanguan was also occupied. But he was the closest and was familiar with the terrain, so he saw Xue Bai
Of course, he was the first to arrive at the signal.
Otherwise, with only Jiang Hai's hundreds of troops, how could Xue Bai dare to take such a risk?
"Guo Qianli! Don't be lenient, capture him!"
Seeing that Guo Qianli's arrow missed Li Chu, Xue Bai immediately shouted.
"Take him down!" Guo Qianli was not stupid. He knew that Xue Bai was asking him to kill the emperor's grandson to show his support, so he just shouted: "Take him down!"
Seeing that there were so many of them, Li Chu knew that he was outnumbered and quickly retreated.
"Walk!"
"Protect King Quang Binh!"
The men he brought with him were all loyal and brave, and they quickly protected him back to the mountain road, while blocking him and leaving behind him.
Guo Qianli ordered his soldiers to chase and kill more than ten people along the mountain road.
"Brother?"
At the foot of the mountain, Li Tan saw Li Chu retreating in embarrassment from a distance. He was a little surprised and led Xiaoqi to come forward to rescue him.
He was skillful with bow and horse, and he shot several arrows in succession, hitting the pursuers behind Li Chu, and then ordered people to snatch Li Chu back.
Seeing that he was almost about to capture Li Chu, something suddenly happened. Guo Qianli was so angry that he jumped up and sounded a horn, urging Jiang Hai to lead his troops to fight Li Tan.
Jiang Hai was not under Guo Qianli's command. He did not receive Xue Bai's orders, and because Li Tan was so brave, the imperial army had too many soldiers and horses. He did not want the soldiers to make unnecessary sacrifices, so he only fired arrows to drive Li Tan away and did not go forward to fight.
"I'm so angry!"
Guo Qianli saw Xue Bai striding over and said first, "Why don't you kill your people?!"
"Why didn't you kill Li Chu with one arrow?" Xue Bai asked.
"Hey, what you said is that he is the emperor's grandson and the prince. How can I dare to kill him?"
"He is rebellious."
"That's what you said." Guo Qianli said, "Do you think I will kill anyone who is rebellious?"
Xue Bai laughed angrily at him, waved him forward, and asked in a low voice: "Did you see that I deliberately asked you to kill him?"
"Of course, I'm not stupid." Guo Qianli patted his chest and said, "But I will not easily follow you to cause chaos. As a general of the Longwu Army, I should be loyal to the saint. I will not stand for any prince."
"Yes, you are not stupid." Xue Bai asked: "Do you know why the official position has been ups and downs for so many years, and occasionally it has been ups and downs?"
"Why?"
"You only see that Chen Xuanli doesn't stand for any prince, but you don't see that he has made the contribution to the dragon decades earlier?"
Guo Qianli was stunned.
Xue Bai patted him on the back and said: "If you don't know how to stand in line, you will see how the smart people stand."
Chen Xuanli also strode over and shouted loudly at the foot of the mountain: "All the forbidden troops obey the order, Prince Zhong and his son have rebelled! Take them down..."
~~
"Fake! Disfigured!"
Li Chu fled back in a hurry, and the first thing he did was to pull Li Tan over and say this.
Li Tan's reaction was actually a little disappointed. First of all, he was sorry that his grandfather was no longer alive.
"Xue Bai must have committed regicide." Li Chu added, "The saint is in his hands, why should he replace it with a disfigured one? He must have committed regicide. I was just acting out the truth to the world in advance."
Having said that, after experiencing his reactions, it is useless to talk about it now.
Chen Xuanli and others had been completely forced to oppose him and began to incite the Imperial Army.
Li Chu originally wanted to order the Imperial Army to put down the rebellion, but he gradually realized that if he continued to entangle himself, he would be the one who would be regarded as a rebel and put down.
"Brother should not take action rashly." Li Tan observed the situation and quickly made a judgment.
After that, he glanced at Li Fuguo and said coldly: "I told you, don't let me see you interfering in state affairs again."
Li Fuguo was shocked and responded: "King Jianning, spare your life, I am just following orders..."
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The war drums on the opposite side were beating loudly.
Guo Qianli's soldiers have already rushed down the mountain. There are not many people following him now, only a few hundred, but together with Jiang Hai, they have formed an array of more than a thousand people. Together with Chen Xuanli, Xue Bai got on their horses one after another,
The flag was raised high to intimidate the Imperial Army in the name of the Emperor, which soon shook the morale of Li Chu's troops.
"Withdraw." Li Tan said, "Bring the troops back to Heshuo and let's talk."
"withdraw!"
Li Chu ordered the gold medal, and at the same time he did not forget to publicize that "Rong Wang sent Xue Bai to falsely pass on the imperial edict", and also said that Shuofang's troops had sufficient food and supplies to stimulate the wavering military morale.
"Let Treason and Hu Jie stay in Guanzhong and kill each other. We will go to Shuofang first to rectify military affairs and clean up the country!"
The team retreated slowly, thinking that Xue Ni's troops were small and would not dare to pursue them. What they didn't expect was that numerous riders came running from a distance, chasing them all the way across a stone's throw.
"Go back and guard Chang'an!"
Under the setting sun, Zhang Xiaojing galloped on the Guanzhong Plain, constantly shouting to his former colleagues.
He didn't mention who was the rebel and who was the loyal minister, because even he couldn't tell the difference.
In his eyes, Xue Bai and the prince behind him may not be really innocent and are not important. He is tired of being involved in the battle for the reserve and being used like pawns.
Among Li Cong, Li Heng, and Li Wan, who can be the emperor? What does it matter to an ordinary soldier like him? He doesn't care at all.
When he found out that the powerful people who took him out of Chang'an, whether to Shu County or to Shuofang, were not thinking about how to defend the country at all, they were only thinking about their own power and interests. Zhang Xiaojing suddenly realized that he only had one wish -
—Go back and defend his home.
No matter if it is loyal or traitorous, no matter if it is regicide or guardian!
"Go back! Our home is in Chang'an!"
Zhang Xiaojing chased for a long distance, like a Kuafu chasing the sun, until the sun set in the distant Longshan Mountain and the world fell into darkness.
He tightened the reins and felt his voice was as hoarse as if it was on fire.
Looking back, he saw countless torches behind him, like stars in the sky.
It was that Xue Bai had led his troops to catch up, and many soldiers who were willing to go back with him to guard Chang'an were forming their troops.
He had actually recovered many people, so he grinned with satisfaction.
"Zhang Xiaojing!"
As he was turning around to head east, someone suddenly shouted to him in the darkness.
"The third child?" Zhang Xiaojing was pleasantly surprised when he heard that he was a comrade in his team, "I thought you were silenced."
"Ha, I won't die that easily. I want to go back to Chang'an with you."
Zhang Xiaojing asked: "Didn't you say that you wanted to take advantage of Heshuo? You ran back to Chang'an to die. There will be so many unknown corpses that I can't tell you apart."
"I finally understand. It's better to die in Chang'an than to die in these bullshit things..."