Southeast of Taiyuan City, Erlong Mountain has beautiful bells and bells. There is Sanqing Temple in the mountain, which is now the Royal Taoist Temple of the Tang Dynasty.
In mid-March, a group of people came to the Taoist temple along the winding mountain road. The leader, Yang Qixuan, stepped forward and asked the Taoist priest who was sweeping the floor, "May I ask, is Master Kongyang here?"
"A month ago, Kong Yangzi became an immortal."
Yang Qixuan was stunned and didn't know what to do. He had to look back at Diao Geng behind him and asked silently: "What should I do?"
Diao Geng raised his chin and motioned for him to continue asking.
"That's right." Yang Qixuan had no choice but to turn to the Taoist priest and said: "The master of the family was originally an official in Changshan County. After the war, he was ordered to return to Beijing by King Qin. The family took refuge in Sanqing Temple. At that time, the master of the temple was still Master Kongyang...
"
At that time, Xue Bai went to Taiyuan to invite reinforcements, then returned to Changshan, and then rushed to the plains. The journey was dangerous, so he did not take Li Tengkong, Li Jilan and others with him, but let them stay at Tumen Pass.
Tumen Pass is guarded by Li Sheng and is relatively safe. Including Dugu Wensu, Li Shiyu, Li Shiyu, and Diao Bing and Diao Geng who were left to recuperate. They move between Taiyuan and Changshan to help
The situation in Hebei. However, Li Longji used Helan Jinming as the envoy to Hebei to attack Xue Bai's forces, so they had to keep a low profile under the protection of Li Sheng.
When the emperor fled, the attack on Xue Bai's forces in Taiyuan was not so fierce. In addition, the Tang army withdrew from Hebei and Tumen Pass faced the rebel forces. Li Tengkong and Li Jilan came to Sanqingguan to stay temporarily.
"Nv Guan? If my husband is looking for someone, he should go to Qixia Temple on the mountain."
"Thank you."
Yang Qi agreed, and the group continued walking towards the back mountain. Half an hour later, they saw another Taoist temple. It was surrounded by peach blossoms and looked very peaceful.
The door was just ajar. They pushed it open and couldn't help but be stunned. Although the environment here looked beautiful, there were many ragged people sitting in the courtyard, mostly women and children with sallow faces and thin muscles. They looked weak and did not like to talk.
, just coughing lightly occasionally.
"this?"
Yang Qixuan immediately covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve and asked the patients vaguely: "Do you know where Teng Kongzi and Ji Lanzi are?"
No one answered him. As they were about to walk in, a shout suddenly sounded from behind them.
"Who are you?!"
Turning around, Diao Geng couldn't help but said in surprise: "Brother."
I saw three people coming down from the mountain carrying a wild boar. The leader was Diao Bing. He was injured when he followed Xue Bai from Changshan and was lame. Diao Bing was very surprised to see them coming and said impatiently:
"Is there any new news?"
"Is there any room for you? Let's go in and talk."
Passing through the front hall, I saw a few women in the courtyard pounding wood and pounding medicine, wearing dusty Taoist robes. Yang Qixuan glanced at them and quickly passed them. He wanted to continue walking in, but he heard
Diao Bing said: "vacate the space, someone is coming."
"Brother-in-law?"
Yang Qixuan stopped and looked around. He saw that the female Taoist priest who was speaking had a dark and yellow face with scabies. He suddenly felt it was an eyesore and said in surprise: "Ah? You are... the Seventeenth Mother?"
"Yes, my brother-in-law doesn't recognize me."
She spoke with a calm demeanor, and her calm temperament really belonged to Li Tengkong.
Yang Qixuan then turned to look at the woman next to her. Her hair was fluffy and covered with dust. Her gray face was covered with sores and there seemed to be some pus that had not dried yet. She was uglier than Li Tengkong.
"Ji...Ji Lanzi?"
"Mr. Yang is so polite."
"Why are you like this?" Yang Qixuan asked, looking at Jiao Nu and Mian'er again, but seeing that they were not much better, he suddenly understood and said, "Are you pretending?"
"No." Li Jilan shook his head.
Li Tengkong said: "I was treating patients and encountered leprosy, which is leprosy. I accidentally contracted it. It affected them all."
Yang Qixuan asked: "How, how did you get infected?"
"In case of scabies, there is heat and heat attached to them, and the qi is unclear. If you get close, you will inhale the scabies, and you will be infected." Li Tengkong said: "First, the skin sores will gradually swell and rupture, and over time they can spread.
All over the body, my eyebrows are falling off, my nose is sunken, my eyes are damaged and my lips are cleft.”
Yang Qixuan was shocked when he heard this and quickly took two steps back.
"Brother-in-law, don't be alarmed. I have suppressed it with medicine and it is no longer a problem."
"No problem?" Yang Qixuan asked: "Is this all true? Could it be that... you lied to me?"
"Just don't believe me." Li Tengkong asked, "But is there any news?"
Before, she talked about her illness with a sad and calm expression, but now when she asked for news, her eyes shone with hope.
"Yes, there is news."
Yang Qi Xuanqiang calmed down and did not look at them, saying: "Li Sheng is going to lead his troops to King Qin in Chang'an. Do you want to go back with the army?"
"Back to Chang'an?" Li Jilan asked first, "I heard that Xue Lang is guarding Chang'an, but is it true?"
Her voice was still clear and moving, causing Yang Qixuan to raise his eyes involuntarily, seeing the scarred face again, and suddenly felt uncomfortable.
He quickly lowered his head and said, "Yes, Mr. Lang is in Chang'an."
"Then let's..."
Li Tengkong stopped Li Jilan and asked, "When General Li comes to Beijing, doesn't he have to abandon Tumenguan?"
She remembered that Xue Bai had told Li Sheng before leaving that Tumen Pass was a fortress connecting Hedong and Hebei, and he must hold on to it.
"The situation is different." Yang Qi declared: "First, Wang Chengye is aggressive and has cut off the food and grass at Tumen Pass; second, it is said that Shi Siming is about to surrender; third, Chang'an is in danger and urgently needs rescue."
"What's the crisis in Chang'an? Didn't it say that Xue Lang has welcomed back the Holy Master?"
"Alas, this matter is complicated, and I can't explain it clearly to you at the moment." Yang Qixuan seemed a little impatient, and treated them with no courtesy as before, saying: "I came here today to ask you whether you want to return to Chang'an with the army. If so.
If you go, you will inevitably be in danger; if you don’t go, you will end up in the east of the river..."
"Let's go."
"Well, back to Chang'an."
"Without further delay, let's set off tomorrow."
~~
That night, Yang Qixuan and his party crowded with Diao Bing in a side hall in the front yard of the Taoist temple for the night.
I was too tired from traveling these past few days, and soon I heard the sound of snoring one after another.
Diao Bing had already fallen asleep, but at night, he got up, patted Diao Geng's shoulder, and motioned for him to go out with him, and the two brothers walked softly into the courtyard.
"What's going on? Everyone goes back to Chang'an. Isn't this Lang Jun's arrangement?"
"It counts, but it doesn't count." Diao Geng said: "Lang Jun was trapped in Chang'an and had no information. He sent Yan Jiming to Taiyuan to ask for reinforcements. Li Guangbi decided to go south and transferred Li Sheng."
Diao Bing nodded and asked: "Then who decided to let the two Taoist nuns return to Chang'an?"
"Let me think about it, it's not the big bosses like us who said it anyway." Diao Geng scratched his head and said: "At Tumen Pass, Li Sheng definitely didn't mention it. It seems that it wasn't Yang Qixuan who spoke first. It was the one who never mentioned it.
The rebels defected to Lang Jun and the official said."
"Dugu asked Su?" Diao Bing asked.
The name was easy to remember, so he always remembered that Xue Baice rebelled against Dugu Wensu, one of the rebels.
"No." Diao Geng said, "Another one."
"What's the fish called?"
"Yes, that's him. He said, 'Since we are returning to Chang'an, will Lang Jun's family be brought with us?' What's wrong?"
Diao Bing said: "I find it strange that Chang'an is not completely safe yet, and it is inconvenient to march with the young ladies. How can you bring them back to Chang'an at this time?"
"I'm worried that if something happens if I don't have my care, we are all husband's people, so what's the problem?"
"Well, keep an eye on Yang Qixuan." Diao Bing said, "I don't think he is too upright."
"Know."
When the two brothers returned to their residence, they saw that Yang Qixuan was still sleeping deeply, as if he was still having nightmares, and murmured: "Go away, go away."
~~
The next day, everyone had packed up, went down the mountain before dawn, and rode southward. Two days later, they found Li Sheng's soldiers and horses who were marching.
They followed the soldiers and horses, and continued southward with the army to understand the county. Li Sheng's march continued southward, and went to Li Guangbi's camp at his command, while they entered the city.
"When we get here, you can rest assured." Yang Qi declared.
"Why?"
"This is Lang Jun's territory."
"Xue Lang's territory?" Li Jilan couldn't help but be curious. He rode up and asked, "Xue Lang has never been an official in Jie County."
Yang Qixuan was originally a little lucky, thinking that their faces were just pretending, but along the way, they still looked like this.
Seeing Li Jilan approaching, he even pulled the reins in fear and moved aside to avoid being infected.
"Jiechi, Salt Lake. This is the place where the imperial court first tried out the salt law. The officials were all recommended by Yang Wei..."
Halfway through, Yang Qixuan saw someone coming to greet him in front of him. He was too lazy to say any more and said, "They are coming."
Yuan Jie, one of the five sons of Chun Wei, came here, not to welcome them, but to meet Yan Jiming, Dugu Wensu, Li Shiyu and others who were accompanying the army. Everyone can indeed be regarded as Xue Bai's people.
, at least they are all people close to Xue Bai.
They were also very surprised when they saw Li Tengkong and Li Jilan's faces, but in this case, they still said what they said before.
After hearing this, Yang Qixuan completely gave up, feeling sorry for these two beauties, and then silently moved further away, watching with cold eyes. He felt that Li Jilan had no self-awareness, and now that he was so ugly, he still cared about the news about Xue Bai.
Although Yuan Jie was the county magistrate, he did not lead them to the county government, but to the post house. And the post house was surrounded by banks, salt shops, and a Fengwei restaurant. Xue Bai's influence must be indispensable.
"Chang'an is still there."
Among the officials, although Yan Jiming was the youngest, he understood the situation best. He led everyone to the map, pointed and talked.
"No one expected that Xue Lang could manage to hold Chang'an City for so long. Not only the rebels, but also King Zhong must have been unexpected. Li Guangbi had originally planned to go to Shuofang to see King Zhong, but he was moved."
Dugu asked Su Fusu and praised: "Fortunately, Yan Langjun was able to convince him."
"I didn't persuade him." Yan Jiming pointed to Huayin on the map and said, "It was our soldiers who impressed Li Jieshuai with their tangible achievements."
When he said this, his tone became excited.
"With less than 2,000 men, they crossed the Pass and falsely attacked Lantian, alerting the main force of the rebels. After that, they stormed more than 200 miles of mountain roads in one day, stormed Huayin, cut off the rebels' supply line, and killed them.
Killed An Qingze, son of An Lushan!"
Everyone was surprised. Even those who knew the general plan did not expect that this small force could achieve such results.
Yan Jiming asked: "Guess what they did next?"
"Stick to Huayin?"
"No." Yan Jiming said: "They drove the defeated rebels and continued to advance eastward, attacking Tongguan where the rebels were heavily stationed. They occupied the Kengshujing Valley between the north and south connecting cities, blocked the forbidden ditch, and handed the news to Yuan Yuan.
Knot."
Yuan Jie nodded, pointed at the map between Huayin and Tongguan, and said: "Cui Qianyou sent three thousand cavalry to attack with the Tongguan rebels. They set up an ambush at the entrance of Jinggou. This battle was a thunderous one. The rebels
They suffered a huge defeat and lost nearly a thousand men. In this way, the rebels had more than 100,000 elite cavalry, but they were cut off by 2,000 men on both sides of Tongguan. They attacked fiercely for several days and could not advance an inch."
"It's so powerful."
"I don't know which general is leading the army. After this battle, it will definitely be powerful in Guanzhong."
Yan Jiming said: "Li Jieshuai asked the same question. He didn't know at first that it was only a small group of less than 2,000 soldiers that achieved such a victory. He thought it was supported by a large group of officers and soldiers from the south. After marching here, we got
After learning the details, he was extremely surprised, so he asked me the name of the general, and I said he had no name."
"No name?"
"The general's name is Lao Liang, and he never knew his last name; the deputy general's name is Fan Lao, and he was originally a small official in Henan Prefecture."
The Diao brothers looked at each other and straightened their backs, feeling proud of themselves.
The rebels who defeated the famous generals Gao Xianzhi and Ge Shuhan were rampaged by such two little people. How could they not feel proud?
"Of course, the casualties in this battle were extremely heavy." Yuan Jie said, "I sent troops across the Yellow River several times to support them, but the rebels were very strong. When Li Jieshuai arrived, there were only more than 500 people left at the entrance of Jingou. Li Jieshuai felt the tragedy and no longer hesitated, he immediately crossed the river and captured Tongguan."
Having said this, Dugu Wensu said: "That's inappropriate."
"Please give me some advice from Dugu Gong."
"The art of war emphasizes that 'the enemy must be surrounded', otherwise the enemy troops will lose their way to survive and their fighting spirit will be strong. The pass is dangerous and the rebels have only Tongguan. Once they are captured by Li Jieshuai, they will strengthen their determination to fight decisively." Dugu asked Su. He said, "If I were Cui Qianyou, if I saw the Tang army trying to attack Tongguan, I would send reinforcements back. However, if Tongguan cannot be defended, I would attack Chang'an instead..."
Li Jilan didn't quite understand what they said before. He only knew that the situation was getting better, so he became nervous at this time, carefully interjected, and asked: "What about Chang'an?"
Dugu asked Su Su and asked, "Is there any news from Chang'an?"
"Wait a moment."
Yuan Jie hurried out and came back after a long time. His face turned pale and he said: "Chang'an City is surrounded by water, and the news cannot be delivered in or out."
"I'm still anxious." Dugu asked Su Su: "If you follow my plan, you should save Chang'an first, and then leave Huayin. By then, the rebels will be running back and forth, and they will definitely want to retreat."
"It doesn't matter if I think about it. Li Jieshuai has already attacked Tongguan, and he will surely support Chang'an within three to five days."
Dugu Wensu nodded, but his eyes were very worried. In his opinion, Chang'an has been without food for a long time, and it is unclear whether it can defend it for three to five days. Even if it can be defended, the rebels have no way to retreat and must fight Li Guangbi. This is definitely not the case. Good thing.
His worries quickly infected others. Everyone originally came with the longing to return to Chang'an, but now they were only worried.
~~
"Tengkongzi, are you worried about Xue Lang?"
After settling down, Li Jilan couldn't help but ask Li Tengkong.
Li Tengkong shook his head and said calmly: "Everyone has his own destiny, so what's the use of worrying?"
"We haven't seen him for so long, don't you miss him?"
"I don't want to." Li Tengkong said: "The world is in chaos. This is not the time for children to love each other. He has his own things to do, and I have mine."
Li Jilan said: "I always blamed Xue Lang for leaving you in Hedong for so long, but now I know that he was so dangerous in Chang'an. I blamed him wrongly."
"Wherever I want to go, I can go there, but he can't throw it away."
Li Tengkong still had the same aloof attitude, but after arriving at Xie County, she tossed and turned for two consecutive nights, unable to sleep.
Two days later, Yan Jiming, Yuan Jie and others decided to cross the Yellow River with the soldiers and horses left behind in Jie County to support Chang'an City. Li Tengkong originally wanted to go, but knew that he should not cause further trouble.
When she was in Changshan, she insisted on returning to Xue Bai, but she encountered a rebellion, which finally made her feel a little ashamed. This time, she calmly waited in Jie County.
It was night, while she and Li Jilan were still making medicine in the post house, they heard faint shouts from afar.
"Good news! Good news..."
"Take a break, do you hear me?"
"Let's go and have a look."
They rushed to the lobby of the post house and saw that Dugu Wensu, Yang Qixuan and others had already arrived.
"Chang'an...Chang'an is guarded!"
"real?"
"yes!"
Li Tengkong didn't want to listen to all the news they told after that. He just wanted to know more about Xue Bai and her relatives. He thought to himself: "Ji Lanzi, why don't you ask."
Finally, before Li Jilan could speak, the updated information arrived.
"It's the King of Peiping! Lang Jun is the King of Peiping. He led his troops to guard Chang'an!"
"The King of Peiping is unrivaled in the limelight, and he is already the greatest contributor to putting an end to the chaos!"
"..."
Listening to Xue Bai's achievements in Chang'an, not to mention Li Tengkong, Li Jilan admired him in his heart. Even Yang Qixuan felt admiration. In addition to admiration, he also had a kind of surprise that he finally made the right bet.
"King of Peiping." Yang Qixuan murmured these three words, unable to estimate Xue Bai's future.
He found that what he wanted most right now was to follow Xue Bai. He even felt that the beautiful young lady he always liked before was too shallow. Beauty is fleeting, and a man would be most satisfied if he started a big career.
From now on, the entire family will be proud of him, and his name will be written in the most important position in the family tree of this generation.
Here Yang Qixuan was still ecstatic, but a subordinate suddenly entered and reported: "The Cui people have entered the city."
"Cui Zhong? Who is it?" Yang Qixuan was puzzled.
"He is from Wang Chengye." Dugu Wensu muttered: "He has taken refuge with King Zhong, how can he enter the city at this time?"
"What do you mean?"
"King Zhong accused Lang Jun of being rebellious, and he would definitely not want to see Jun Xue successfully defend Chang'an City. If Cui Zong comes here at this time, they will not come to support him."
Only then did Yang Qixuan realize that something was wrong and asked: "Then who is he?"
"How did he enter the city?" Li Tengkong suddenly asked.
Yang Qixuan then remembered and quickly sent his men to investigate.
After a while, the man came back. Before he could speak, Li Tengkong suddenly asked, "But Li Shiyu let Cui Zhong into the city."
"yes."
Dugu Wensu was greatly surprised and asked, "Did you read that correctly?"
"He's not wrong." Li Tengkong said, "I think Li Shiyu has been loyal to the king a long time ago."
"What?!"
The person who jumped in shock this time was Yang Qixuan, who said with an incredulous attitude: "How could it be possible? Didn't Li Shiyu personally instigate the rebellion?"
In short, he personally watched Li Shiyu transform from An Lushan's staff to Xue Bai. Since then, he has been working hard to put down the rebellion.
A former traitor could do this, if not out of loyalty to Xue Bai, then why?
"Others don't remember, but I happen to know that Li Shiyu was demoted by my grandfather, and my grandfather did not wrongly accuse him. He was part of the Zhongwang family a long time ago. At that time, Zhongwang was still the prince."
Li Tengkong said, and as he spoke, he glanced at Diao Bing.
In fact, when they were in Taiyuan, she was the one who asked Diao Bing to ask who was going to take them back to Chang'an. She didn't think it was Xue Bai's order, and she thought to herself, "Xue Bai wouldn't be so anxious to see me."
When she learned that it was Li Shiyu's suggestion, she took it seriously. Because she had been handling the official affairs of the prime minister's office with Xue Bai for a while, had read Li Linfu's official documents and rosters, and had seen that Li Shiyu was Li Heng's confidant.
Xue Bai must have known about this from the beginning, so he was sure to be able to turn Li Shi Yuce from the rebels.
If Xue Bai had followed Xue Bai's plan at that time and controlled the rebellion at the early stage, he would have had enough time to turn Li Shiyu from Li Heng's person to his. But then too many things happened. Tongguan fell, the emperor fled, and Li Shiyu
Heng proclaimed himself emperor, and then the conflict between Xue Bai and Li Heng suddenly broke out.
In this case, Li Shiyu must choose Li Heng.
"I believe that Li Shiyu must be loyal to the Tang Dynasty." Li Tengkong continued, while looking at Dugu Wensu, nodded and said: "But he is afraid that he will be deceived by King Zhong, and many things are not true or false."
Dugu Wensu let out a long sigh and said: "Since the rebellion, we have all seen what the saint, King Qing, King Zhong, and King Peking have done. I never thought that he would make such a choice.
"
Yang Qixuan originally looked at Dugu Wensao with some suspicion. Hearing this, he breathed a long sigh of relief and asked, "Then what should we do?"
Li Tengkong said: "The people from Cui are not good. Can you please ask Dugu Gong to persuade Li Shiyu and ask him to change his mind?"
"Okay." Dugu asked Susu, "I hope I can live up to my trust."
"Dugu Gong, be careful." Li Tengkong Wanfu said.
"Ms. Li, take care."
After that, Dugu Wensu glanced at Diao Bing and Diao Geng and strode away.
Yang Qixuan looked at his back and said, "He is Li Shiyu's brother-in-law. Can you trust him?"
"I can't believe it." Li Tengkong said, "Didn't you find out? It was he who defrauded Yan Jiming, Yuan Jie and others with his words, making them rush to save Chang'an. They were all Li Heng's people from the beginning."
"This, this, this, what are they going to do?"
"Jiezhou is not only an important place from Hedong to Guanzhong, but also has a salt pond. How could Wang Chengye not win it for Li Heng?"
Yang Qixuan thought about it carefully, his spine went cold, and he murmured: "In other words, during this time in Hebei, Li Shiyu had already contacted Wang Chengye? That, that, that, that, Li Sheng, Li Guangbi...
Let’s run away quickly?!”
"Don't run away." Li Tengkong said, "This is Jie County, a place where Xue Bai has been running for a long time. They can't scare me away here."