Li Guangbi's banner passed Baqiao, and the team was slowly marching to Chang'an.
The sentry horse came back from the front and reported: "Commander Jie, King Qing is waiting outside the city gate."
"Have you seen the flag of King Peiping?"
"Didn't see it."
Li Guangbi then recruited his generals and whispered: "Don't act rashly."
Continuing to move forward, he saw the scarred city wall and Li Cong waiting outside the city gate. Looking around, he saw that there were still many defenders guarding the city, and the defense had not been relaxed.
To his surprise, not only was Xue Bai absent from the welcoming team, but Wang Sili, Li Chengguang, Wang Nan and other old Longyou generals were also absent.
He remained calm, dismounted from his horse, faced Li Cong, and said, "I am late to save you. Please forgive me, Your Highness."
Li Cong's earnest smile has been maintained for a long time. Although the scars on his face are very terrible, his eyes are full of intimacy. He stepped forward, hugged Li Guangbi and said: "Not too late, not too late, the general is loyal, brave and diligent.
Repeating two sentences in one sentence can show his sincerity.
The reason why he came to greet Li Guangbi today was because he had won this opportunity himself. He met Xue Bai yesterday, and Xue Bai initially asked him to sit in the palace and wait for Li Guangbi to come to see him. Li Cong asked why, and Xue Bai said he was worried that Li Guangbi had defected to Li Heng, "
I'm afraid it's too dangerous for His Highness to leave the city." Li Cong didn't believe it and didn't want to miss this opportunity to win over the general, so he insisted on coming.
After exchanging a few words, Li Guangbi soon became concerned about the saint's safety.
Li Cong did not shy away from this, and bluntly said that if Li Heng had not kidnapped the saint out of Chang'an, the situation would never have been like this. After that, he just listed Li Heng's crimes in detail, persuaded Li Guangbi to assist him in pacifying the world, promised rewards, etc.
Li Guangbi did not take a stand on the matter of two brothers blaming each other for fighting for family property. He only needed to meet the saint to make a decision.
As long as the saint in Chang'an City today is real, he will have nothing to say.
"Your Majesty is hosting a banquet in the palace to celebrate your victory. The general invites you."
As the team walked through Zhuque Street, Li Guangbi glanced at his generals and asked them to take people to each city gate for "reinforcement", while he only took a few hundred people to the palace for the banquet.
Entering the palace from the Side East Pavilion Gate, and then passing through the Zuo Yanming Gate. Before entering the palace, Li Guangbi met Chen Xuanli. The General of the Longwu Army was still guarding the palace wearing a majestic golden armor. What he saw with his own eyes was different from what he had heard before.
He said that various news brought him very different feelings.
"Xuan, Li Guangbi, deputy envoy of Hedong Jiedu!"
Chang'an Palace is majestic and majestic, giving people a great sense of oppression.
When Li Guangbi entered, he saw that the palace was magnificent, with rows of tables and fine wines and delicacies placed on them, which was in sharp contrast to the scenes he had seen along the way.
By the time he sat down, a group of dancers had already arrived, dancing to the music, as if they had returned to the prosperous times before the rebellion.
Li Guangbi felt a little uncomfortable and turned to Li Cong, who was leading him, and said: "A large number of rebels are still in Guanzhong, and Chang'an is short of food. Isn't this not good?"
Li Cong sighed helplessly and said in a very small voice: "I also advised the saint."
If Li Guangbi originally suspected that the saint was a fake, this little thing made him less suspicious.
Before the holy driver arrived, Li Cong held up his wine glass several times to persuade him to drink. Li Guangbi had a good drinking capacity, so he was not afraid. Instead, when Li Cong was a little tipsy, he brought the topic to Xue Bai.
"I wonder where the King of Peking is now?"
"I must be still keeping an eye on Chang'an's defense. That kid is diligent."
"I have something that I don't understand." Li Guangbi asked again: "How can Your Highness determine his identity?"
Li Cong looked around and talked about him, and said: "Sanlang's experience is similar to that of King Size back then. They were both implicated and hid themselves as mediocre people."
In this way, Li Guangbi could see something was wrong between Li Cong and Xue Bai.
After drinking half a pot of wine, there were two rounds of singing and dancing in the palace. Finally, a eunuch shouted: "The saint has arrived!"
Li Guangbi put down his wine glass, stood up, and stared at the rear of the palace.
Since everyone said that this saint was a fake, he wanted to see it as he saw it today...
~~
Imperial City.
Xue Bai made all arrangements and was about to go to Tai Chi Palace when he heard the sound of horse hoofs behind him. He turned around and saw that Wang Nan was coming.
"how?"
"I can go see Li Guangbi." Wang Nan said, "He and I are old acquaintances in Longyou."
"No need, too many people go to see him, but it seems that we are guilty." Xue Bai said with a relaxed smile on his face: "But why do we have such guilty consciences? Protecting the Saint and guarding Chang'an, whoever touches us,
Whoever is rebellious will be punished by everyone in the world."
"That's good."
"It's almost time, let's go."
Wang Nanpo was turning his horse's head when he suddenly saw a messenger running towards him. He squinted his eyes, keenly aware that it was important news, and turned around and said: "King of Peiping, wait a minute."
Xue Bai reined in the reins again and waited for the messenger to arrive.
"King of Peiping, urgent report from Hedong."
"Give it to me."
Xue Bai took the letter and unfolded it. When he saw the handwriting, he was slightly startled and found that it was written by Li Tengkong. When he saw the content of the letter clearly, his eyes became more solemn.
"What?" Wang Nan asked.
"Li Guangbi has made Li Heng the emperor. When he comes to Chang'an this time, he wants to capture the saint and His Highness."
"Could he..."
"I believe this news." Xue Bai raised his hand and said, "We have to make preparations early. If we can't convince him, then we will have to convince his soldiers."
"Take away his military power?"
"That's all."
Xue Bai had already thought about what would happen if Li Guangbi came with bad intentions, and had already deployed defensive troops in the city.
However, there were some things that he had never even told Wang Ran. It was not easy for Wang Ran to seize power by force before. Now that he had received the news from Li Tengkong, he had a reason.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt Li Guangbi. It must have been the inconvenience of news transmission during the days when Chang'an was besieged. This made Li Heng deceive him first. We can take his military power and slowly tell him the truth."
"good."
"Put the country first."
Xue Bai patted Wang Rao and rode into the palace.
Wang Rao has always been a resolute person, but he did not expect that one day he would have to meet Li Guangbi in battle, so Rao was a little hesitant.
But he still rushed to the city gate, arranged his troops and horses, and made preparations to seize Li Guangbi's military power according to Xue Bai's words.
As soon as they climbed to the top of the city, they saw another cavalry messenger running towards them at an extremely fast speed in the distance.
"Hang the man up."
Wang Rao immediately ordered his soldiers to put down the hanging basket and picked up the messenger. He saw that his head was covered with sweat, his face was covered with dust, and his lips were white and chapped. He had obviously been galloping for a long time.
"What's the news?"
"I want to see the King of Peking."
"You can talk to me, I am a rare king."
"General Wang, I was sent to Hanzhong to deliver a message, and I got a piece of news..."
Having said this, the messenger pouted.
Wang Nan leaned over and after hearing this sentence, he was extremely surprised and said, "What did you say?"
"The saint has arrived in Shu County."
"How come?"
Wang Rao frowned and thought.
At that time, when Xue Bai went to Chencang, he was still staying in Chang'an. When Xue Bai came back to welcome the saint, he said that Li Heng rebelled and set fire to the saint, which was rare for the king to believe it.
"The saint is in Chang'an, how did he come to Shu County?" Wang Rao grabbed the envoy's throat and said, "Tell me, who sent you?!"
"The villain is really a member of the King of Peking. There are official documents and notices in the villain's arms, which were delivered to all parts of the world by Shu County... The saint has really arrived in Shu County."
Wang Rao used his fingers slightly and felt the urge to strangle this man to death.
It seems that as long as this messenger is strangled to death, no one will discuss the matter anymore, and the danger will be solved."
But he knew that strangling a person to death was useless, and paper could not contain the fire. So he stretched out his hand, took out the official document and a few notices from the postman's arms, glanced at it, and his face became ugly. The content above was very simple.
, the saint has arrived in Shu County, and the first decree he issued is to bring peace to the world.
This incident was too unexpected and ridiculous, but Wang Qianlan knew deep down in his heart that it was probably true, because the news could not have been released by Li Heng, nor could it be released by An Qingxu or Li Cong, then only the real saint
Have the ability and need to do so.
In addition, looking back now, the saint in Chang'an City during this period was indeed a very good puppet, so how could he be a real saint?
Presumably Li Guangbi knew this very well, so he accepted Li Heng as his new king.
So, what choice should you make?
Wang Nan didn't think about it for too long. He put away the official documents and hurried to the city.
He needs to tell Xue Bai about this as soon as possible. Otherwise, if Xue Bai still tries to deceive Li Guangbi by pretending to be a saint, it will only have the opposite effect.
Alternatively, if Xue Bai seizes Li Guangbi's military power, it will be feasible in the short term. After all, except for some senior generals, ordinary soldiers have never seen the saint. It is much easier to directly convince them that the saint is in Chang'an. But once the saint is there
When the news about Shu County became known to the world, Xue Bai became an irrefutable traitor and was bound to suffer backlash.
"drive!"
As they rode quickly through Zhuque Street, Wang Rao was very worried that Xue Bai had already taken action.
But when he arrived at the palace gate, he saw that it was already closed.
"Xu."
Wang Nan reined in his horse and took a circle in front of the palace gate. He looked up and saw the flag of the Longwu Army. He shouted: "Who is guarding the gate?!"
A soldier from Longwu looked over and quickly went to report. After a while, Zhang Xiaojing's figure appeared on the battlements and said: "General Wang? What's the matter?"
"I have urgent matters to enter the palace, please let me in!"
Zhang Xiaojing has always respected Wang Rao and did not dare to neglect him, but he just asked someone to put down the hanging basket and said: "It is difficult to open the palace door, so I have to ask General Wang to forgive me."
Wang Rao didn't mind it, so he took off his armor, got on the hanging basket, and was pulled up to the top of the city.
He was about to rush to the palace when he suddenly thought that Xue Bai was actually using Zhang Xiaojing to guard the palace gate instead of himself. Even if he had plans to seize Li Guangbi's military power by force today, Xue Bai did not tell him in advance.
"Come with me!"
Wang Rao caught Zhang Xiaojing casually, grabbed Zhang Xiaojing's collar, and dragged him away with him.
Zhang Xiaojing is also a strong and strong man. Unexpectedly, he couldn't avoid it at all. He said: "General Wang, I have military affairs..."
The two of them went down the palace wall and reached a deserted place. Wang Rao asked in a low voice: "Answer me honestly, is the saint a fake?"
"What does General Wang mean by this? How can a saint be a fake?"
"You still want to hide it from me?!" Wang Rao brought Zhang Xiaojing to his eyes, "The real saint has arrived in Shu County. Do you know what the consequences will be?"
Zhang Xiaojing's expression remained unchanged and he said: "Fake, the saint is in the palace."
"You are a talented person," Wang Nan said, "but there is no use hiding it from me."
"Okay, General Wang is going to meet the King of Peking, at the Wanchun Hall... over there."
Zhang Xiaojing figured out the priorities and immediately gave Wang Nan the way.
When Wang Jinjin rushed to Wanchun Palace, Zhang Xiaojing turned around and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"Shu County?"
He couldn't believe how the saint could go to Shu County.
~~
"The saint has arrived!"
Following this shout, everyone in the hall stood up and turned to look.
Gao Lishi, who was wearing a purple robe, walked in front. The tall and mighty body of the saint was half leaning on the imperial couch, and was slowly carried by the eunuch. Concubine Yang followed behind.
It's still far away and can't be seen clearly.
What Li Guangbi wanted to see was simple. He knew that the saint had been burned, but he had to see with his own eyes whether he could see traces of the past in his scarred face.
At this moment, someone from the square ahead rushed towards Wanchun Hall.
"Your Majesty! I have important official business to report!"
The imperial driver who was slowly approaching stopped. Gao Lishi turned around and shouted at the man who was coming: "King Peiping, you are so rude! You are late for the imperial banquet, and you dare to rush into the imperial driver?"
Xue Bai said: "Your Majesty, I will forgive you. I have temporarily obtained important military information about the movements of the rebels."
Looking out from the palace, I saw Xue Bai crossing his hands in front of the imperial chariot and saluting. After that, Gao Lishi leaned in front of the saint to listen to the holy edict.
The saint was speaking now, but his voice was very low. At the end, Gao Lishi stood up and announced: "The imperial banquet continues, and Li Cong, Li Qian, and Li Guangbi are invited to discuss matters in the Zhengdian Palace!"
After saying that, the imperial driver turned to the Li Zheng Palace.
Seeing this scene, Li Guangbi fully understood Xue Bai's plan, and he deliberately led him into Chang'an City, the palace city, the front hall, and the inner hall, and gradually separated him from his subordinates.
When he entered Chang'an City, he brought nearly ten thousand people with him. When he entered the palace, he only brought a few hundred people. When he entered the Wanchun Hall for a banquet, he only brought dozens of meritorious generals. When he went to the Lizheng Hall, he was alone.
At this point, we can actually roughly tell that the saint is fake, but only roughly.
Li Guangbi thought for a moment and showed no fear. He stood up and made a gesture to appease his generals. After leaving the Wanchun Hall, he glanced around at the Forbidden Army in the distance and nodded slightly to Xue Bai.
"It's been less than half a year since we last saw each other in Taiyuan. When we meet again, it's time to bow to the King of Peking."
"Li Jieshuai doesn't need to be polite."
Military affairs were urgent, Xue Bai just raised his hand and asked Li Guangbi to go to the Li Zheng Hall with him.
The two palaces are not far apart, but they have to pass through the Lizheng Gate, which is guarded by imperial guards.
Several people entered the palace and saw that the saint had already leaned down on the imperial couch. Gao Lishi and Yang Yuhuan were standing in front of the emperor, blocking the saint.
There are eunuchs carrying tables and placing a map of Guanzhong.
Xue Bai said that he had an urgent military report, so he quickly stepped forward, pointed at the map and said: "Now the rebels are divided into two groups. Tian Chengsi led half of the cavalry to attack Fufeng and Qishan. He is now returning to the division to join Cui Qianyou's troops.
, they are here temporarily...Jincheng County, Maweipo."
Li Guangbi had known all this for a long time and listened indifferently, while looking at the saint intentionally or unintentionally.
"The sage once added King Zhong as the governor of Shuofang and ordered him to lead troops to serve the king." Xue Bai added, "But Li Heng rebelled and proclaimed himself emperor. Not only did he not lead troops to serve the king, he also sent troops to attack Yan Wu's headquarters in Fufeng.
Jiannan Army."
He drew a line on the map to the west of Guanzhong. This sentence actually told Li Guangbi that Li Heng's troops would not be able to reach Chang'an.
This is to remind Li Guangbi that Yan Wu is a loyal minister to the Chang'an court. If Li Heng wants to intervene in Chang'an, he cannot directly reach out. If the two sides really break up, the situation that has only improved will suddenly deteriorate again.
Li Guangbi understood what he heard, but he saluted in the direction of the royal couch and said, "I dare to ask your majesty, is the loyal king really plotting rebellion?"
When Yang Yuhuan heard this, she knew that this was the time that Xue Bai came specifically to ask her to perform yesterday.
She then snorted coldly and said, "Perhaps, in the eyes of you generals, forcing Saburo to kill me is not considered treason?"
"The noble concubine calms down, I have no intention of doing so." Li Guangbi did not want to fall into the trap of their words, and said: "I was in Hedong. When I heard about the sudden change, I was frightened and uneasy. I often looked southward, hoping to hear the sound of virtue again."
He obviously wanted to hear the saint speak.
Yang Yuhuan glanced at Xue Bai imperceptibly, turned to look at the saint on the imperial couch, and said: "Sanlang, it seems that General Li wants to hear your instructions."
After saying that, she and Gao Lishi helped the saint up on the imperial couch and prepared to accuse Li Heng of his evil deeds in Chencang.
"General Li, do you want to know what happened in Chencang?" Yang Yuhuan said, shedding tears before she opened her mouth.
"Too true."
The saint sighed softly, his voice was extremely hoarse, with a hint of pity.
Li Guangbi frowned, and it was hard to tell for a moment.
"At that time, when the imperial chariot was about to leave the customs, a mutiny suddenly broke out. King Zhong wanted to take the saint to Shuofang..."
Xue Bai couldn't help but think, if he couldn't convince Li Guangbi today, he would have to capture Li Guangbi and then convince him to bring those generals.
At this moment, there seemed to be some conflict outside the hall, and there were sounds.
Xue Bai turned around and saw Wang Nanpo pushing away two guards and striding towards this side, spreading out a notice as he strode forward.
He stared at the notice for a while, until Wang Nannan came closer and waved his hand, indicating that Wang Nannan didn't need to say anything.
Seeing Wang Rao breaking into the palace, Li Guangbi couldn't help but turn his head, and Yang Yuhuan also stopped talking.
"We haven't seen you for a long time, right?" Xue Bai gave the king a rare look, and then said to Li Guangbi: "He has finished his military affairs and will come to see you as soon as possible."
Li Guangbi said sternly: "If you break into the palace without permission, you are not afraid of bumping into the emperor."
Wang Nan took out his command talisman and was about to speak.
"Tell the truth to Li Jieshuai," Xue Bai said.
He went over in person, closed the palace door, turned around and said, "True saint, I have someone escort him safely to Shu County."
Li Guangbi was stunned.
Not to mention him, Yang Yuhuan and Gao Lishi all had a look of surprise in their eyes, but they reacted very quickly and covered it up in a moment.
Only the saint on the royal couch looked shocked.
"What?" Li Guangbi looked around the palace, first observing whether Xue Bai had ambushed the swordsman.
"Just now, Li Jieshuai also heard from the noble concubine and General Gao what happened in Chencang." Xue Bai said unhurriedly: "King Zhong set a fire and wanted to burn us to death. But we escaped with the saint.
I went up to Chencang Mountain. After reaching the top of the mountain, I saw that the fire was gradually extinguishing, so I advised the saint to return to Chang'an, but the saint was unwilling."
"so what?"
"So, I sent people to continue to protect the saint as he went south to Shu County." Xue Bai said: "We, as ministers, can only follow the will of the saint."
Li Guangbi looked at the imperial couch and said, "Then who is this?"
"If it were you, how would you choose in that situation?"
Xue Bai did not answer, but suddenly asked Li Guangbi.
"On one side, there are millions of living beings in Chang'an, and the Tang Dynasty is waiting for the return of the saint. On the other side, it is hard to disobey the king's orders. What should you do if you are in my situation?"
"I……"
Li Guangbi originally wanted to say that he would invite the Holy Master back and then apologize to the Saint after guarding Chang'an. However, as soon as he opened his mouth, he realized that this was not an easy task. With the strength of the Saint, it was not easy to control him.
At this moment, Wang Ruolan secretly observed Xue Bai and saw that his face was not red, his heart was not beating, and his behavior was calm and composed, as if he had arranged the whole thing from the beginning. But Wang Ruohuo knew that if he hadn't delivered it in time,
News came that Xue Bai might have captured Li Guangbi.
"Is this the reason why you find someone to pretend to be a saint?" Li Guangbi asked.
Xue Bai said: "Forgot? King Zhong is planning to kill the king. One is to protect the saint, the other is to preserve Chang'an, and the third is also the meaning of the saint."
He looked at Yang Yuhuan and Gao Lishi, and said: "Otherwise, how could the noble concubine, General Gao, and General Chen be so cooperative? Also, right minister, are you willing to burn your appearance to attract the soldiers sent by Li Heng to protect the saint?
Pursuing soldiers?”
Li Guangbi followed Xue Bai's gaze and saw that the so-called "sage" nodded quickly after being stunned for a moment, and said in his hoarse voice: "That's exactly it."
"Right Prime Minister?"
Li Guangbi immediately realized who this person was.
"Yang Guozhong?!"
~~
Zhang Xiaojing stood on the top of the palace city, holding a telescope and staring at the situation in the palace.
He had a premonition that the secret he had been hiding would be exposed today.
When Yao Runeng asked him how Yang Guozhong died, he said without hesitation that he killed him with an arrow. But he knew very well that the arrow did not kill Yang Guozhong.
In Chencangshan, he recognized at a glance that the man with the burned face was Yang Guozhong. At that time, Gao Lishi was still teaching Yang Guozhong how to pretend to be a saint, and he had long remembered the traitor who bullied him because of a Dongting orange.
Xiang. But he doesn't care who is a saint, he only cares about Chang'an.
But if Li Guangbi cannot be persuaded today, Chang'an City, which has just been rescued from the siege, will inevitably fall into crisis again...
Just as I was thinking about this, something strange suddenly appeared in the telescope's sight.
The eunuchs and imperial soldiers who were guarding outside the Lizheng Palace seemed to have heard some noise and rushed into the palace. Then, as if they were threatened, they stopped and blocked the outside of the palace.
"What's going on?"
Zhang Xiaojing muttered to himself, trying to determine whether the King of Peking had failed to convince Li Guangbi and now Li Guangbi was about to rebel.
If this is the case, then he must immediately order and control the generals that Li Guangbi brought into the palace.
But now, he has not received Xue Bai's signal.
How to do it?
~~
Li Zheng Palace.
"That's right." Yang Guozhong was so shocked when he heard Xue Bai's sudden confession. He nodded quickly when asked, and said impatiently: "I did this to protect the saint..."
However, his defense was quickly interrupted.
"Yang Guozhong?!"
Li Guangbi shouted, anger flashing in his eyes.
Yang Guozhong was frightened at first, but then he turned his eyes and noticed that Wang Ruolan was quietly stepping forward.
He understood instantly. Today, Xue Bai might be able to subdue Li Guangbi through some nonsense, but Yang Guozhong, who offended the public and pretended to be the emperor, will undoubtedly die.
Xue Bai's reason for "protecting the saint" just now was just to appease him.
Wang Nan took two more steps forward.
"Don't come here!" Yang Guozhong screamed, jumped up suddenly, grabbed Yang Yuhuan's neck, pulled out her hairpin and pressed it against her neck, shouting: "Don't even think about killing me!"
"ah!"
"Stop, what are you doing?"
"You want to throw it away after using it? No way!"
Yang Guozhong was so frightened that he pulled Yang Yuhuan back. Then he saw the imperial army and the eunuch rushed over. He unexpectedly shouted: "I am a saint! Do you want to rebel?!"