Li Mi still lives in the Marshal's Mansion in Qizhou City. The life after becoming a prisoner did not make him feel uncomfortable. He just meditated and practiced every day, which made him feel comfortable.
But every evening, there is always some noise on the other side of the courtyard wall. It seems that Xue Bai took in some orphans who were displaced during the war, and set up a school in half of the Marshal's Mansion. After class, Mr. Xue was enjoying the cool air in the courtyard, and a group of children
Mr. Yang Zhu told the story that he had not finished in class.
Li Mi also listened to it for a few days and realized that it was a story similar to the one in which people traveled south in clothes at the end of the Jin Dynasty, except that Jin was replaced by a dynasty called "Song", the Sima family was changed to the Zhao family, and Wu Huan Hua was changed to
They became the Jurchen tribe in the north.
But after listening to it, he could also hear something different from the Jin Dynasty's journey to the south. The story was more like that of Yu Yin's time. Song Huizong, who was superb in calligraphy and painting, was alluding to the current emperor; Cai Jing was alluding to Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong.
Liu; Li Shishi is alluding to Concubine Yang.
As for who to use to allude to Li Heng? At first, Li Mi thought that Song Qinzong was alluding to Li Heng, which was too biased. In his heart, Li Heng's talent was far superior to that of Song Qinzong. Gradually, he heard some clues.
At first, he thought that Kang Wang Zhao Gou, who could revive the world, seemed not so wise and powerful.
Especially when I heard that Zhao Gou seemed to reuse Li Gang and Zongze and claimed that he would personally supervise the Sixth Division to assist the capital and the roads in Hebei and Hedong to fight the Jin people. In fact, he went to patrol the southeast just a few days later.
.This has to make people think that Chang'an was still holding on, but Li Heng was still heading north to Lingwu.
Listening further, Li Mi can often feel Zhao Gou's selfishness in disregarding the country's justice for his own benefit.
The failure of national affairs due to the short-sightedness, cowardice and selfishness of those in power is more infuriating than the collapse of laws and the inability to recover. Therefore, Li Mi unconsciously developed the habit of listening to books every evening.
On this day, it was said that Yue Fei's Northern Expedition was fruitful. He marched into Zhuxian Town and faced off against the Jin army. He sent 500 Beiwei cavalry to attack and defeated the Jin army. So the heroes from Hebei came to surrender one after another, gathering tens of thousands of people.
Across the wall, the old gentleman raised his voice and said in a measured tone: "Yue Fei was very happy and said to his subordinates, 'Go straight to Huanglong Mansion and have a drink with all the gentlemen.'"
Hearing this, even Li Mi felt emotional and excited for his more than ten years of hard work to save the country.
But then, the old voice over there changed his tone and sighed: "At this time, the imperial court wanted to divide Huaibei and give it to the Jin people. Yue Fei was given twelve gold medals in one day and ordered to teach Yue Fei. Yue Fei cried angrily.
He came down, bowed to the east and said, 'Ten years of strength will be wasted in one day'."
After waiting for a while, a group of children asked: "What next?"
"It's getting late, let's take a rest." The old gentleman said, "I've finished reading today's book."
A group of children refused to obey and asked the old man to finish telling the story first. In the end, they were scolded and had to say "Oh" in disappointment.
Li Mi shook his head and smiled self-deprecatingly. As a practitioner, he was naturally much calmer than those boys. But when it came to evening classes at night, he couldn't read the scriptures, and he couldn't enter the state of selflessness while meditating.
I unconsciously thought of the story that happened in the Song Dynasty.
Finally waiting until the evening of the next day, he made tea soup and sat in the courtyard to wait. As expected, the children urged the old man to tell a story.
"No, I read that story from the newspaper and posted it there. I want to hear a story about Prime Minister Zhang Juzheng today..."
Li Mi was quite disappointed. After waiting for two more days, he never heard the old gentleman talk about Yue Fei again.
At first, he would tell himself that he didn't need to pay attention to this matter and keep calm. But after waiting for another two days, he finally couldn't help but said to the guard who was guarding him: "Please come and see King Yong."
In less than half a day, Xue Bai arrived. He had just returned from the Jingzhou battlefield.
"Thanks to you, I won the battle."
Speaking straight to the point, Xue Bai sat down opposite Li Mi, scooped out a bowl of tea soup and said: "The Uighur cavalry was severely injured."
Li Bi said: "The Uighurs came to help the Tang Dynasty suppress the rebellion, but you suppressed them."
"Who is the traitor? The eldest son of the emperor who defended Chang'an, defeated and surrendered Fan Yangxiaoqi, and the prince who supervises the country is the traitor. Isn't it true that the foreigner who prepared to plunder Chang'an became the savior of the Tang Dynasty?"
"It's useless to argue." Li Bi said, "You and I know clearly that the key to this matter lies in your life experience."
Xue Bai said: "My life experience is more important, or is the country of the Tang Dynasty more important?"
"Then are you willing to put the country before yourself?"
"Go and ask Feng Changqing."
Li Bi knew without asking that since Xue Bai won, he must have convinced Feng Changqing. This surprised him. He had always heard Zhao Gou's stories recently, and he always believed that people are selfish.
The two were silent for a moment and changed the topic.
"What's the follow-up to the story of Jianyan's journey to the south?" Li Mi asked.
Xue Bai asked: "How do you know that I know?"
"It was deliberately told to me." Li Bi said: "If I can't even guess this, I'm not worth your while."
"Whoever wins over you doesn't need to be self-righteous." Xue Bai said: "That story was casually told to others a few years ago. Brother Changyuan is also interested?"
Li Bi said: "I'm wondering about something."
"Um?"
"Today's characters each have their own reference in the story of Zhao Song. But I didn't hear who was referring to Prince Qing, and who was you?"
"There is no Your Majesty, and there is no me."
"No?"
Xue Bai said: "Not every era is so lucky. In times of crisis, those in power are willing to be the mainstay and bear everything without retreating."
Li Mi shook his head and said, "You are too self-righteous to say this."
"I made a mistake." Xue Bai raised the bowl of matcha soup cooked by Li Mi, punished himself with a cup, and said, "It's so bitter."
"Be patient and wait for it to come back."
"That's well said." Xue Bai said: "Back to the story, brother Changyuan thinks, is it better for Yue Fei to follow the imperial edict and return to the army, or is it better to go his own way and continue the Northern Expedition?"
Li Bi said: "He can't do it. He doesn't have money, food or supplies. Going deep alone will lead to death."
"Let's not talk about these details, let's just talk about your wish." Xue Bai said: "Suppose there is no such thing as money and food, what do you want him to do?"
Li Mi thought for a moment, spoke several times without saying anything, and finally said: "It is impossible to discuss this issue while ignoring money and food."
Xue Bai said: "A story is a story after all. What about Zhao Gou and Yue Fei? It's okay not to mention it. What's going on in front of us? The sea is flowing across the sea. Brother Changyuan can contribute to the country."
"Give up, I will never give you any advice."
"You are overstepping your bounds by what you said." Xue Bai said, "Is it for me? It's for the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty in Chang'an."
Li Mi was too lazy to argue with Xue Bai. He wanted to ask about the follow-up story but held back.
Xue Bai then talked about the current situation.
"Now that An Qingxu is defeated and retreats to Xiangzhou, does it look like Jin Wushu fled after his defeat in Zhuxian Town? Then, Li Guangbi and Guo Ziyi can be compared to Yue Fei of our Tang Dynasty. At this time, it depends on whether to suppress the rebellion in one go or to cause trouble again.
Brother Yu Changyuan."
"Will it depend on me?"
"We want to recruit Li Heng to surrender." Xue Bai said: "If we continue the fight, I will definitely be able to defeat Li Heng. The problem is that the Tang Dynasty cannot afford to delay it. Not to mention Guo Ziyi, Li Guangbi faces each other across the Taihang Mountains. If we delay for one day, it will cost us countless money and food.
Once Shi Siming raises troops to rescue An Qingxu, how long will this battle last? One year, two years, five years, eight years? A man should be willing to admit defeat. Once Jingzhou is defeated, Li Heng's situation is gone, so he will guard Jing again.
If you flee to Lingwu, there will be no chance of victory, and it will only drag down Datang. But he will definitely not think so. He will think that he still has hope. We have to smash his false hope. Brother Changyuan
What do you say?"
Li Mi asked back: "Where do you plan to settle down?"
"I told Li Heng that it was you who was making suggestions for me." Xue Bai said, "Teach him to mess up his position first."
Li Bi was slightly stunned.
"What?" Xue Bai asked, "Are you worried that they will blame you?"
"It doesn't matter, it's just that if you do it like this, it won't have much effect."
Xue Bai said: "If they believe that you are planning for me, then it will naturally be easier for me to alienate others."
Li Mi immediately asked: "Pu Gu Huai En?"
"Exactly." Xue Bai said: "Please tell me, brother Changyuan, how to instigate rebellion against Pugu Huai'en? This is not to force you to come out of the mountain, but just to ask for a strategy, in order to protect more Shuofang army elites."
Li Mi still shook his head, he could not be easily persuaded by Xue Bai.
"Okay, let's not talk about official business. We have free time today, so we can just talk about personal friendship."
The two drank tea and chatted about other things.
"I have a confidante who is also a Taoist priest." Xue Bai said, "I thought I was very good at messing with people's Taoist minds, and I wanted to use this skill to ask Brother Changyuan to help me."
"You're overthinking it. You're just handsome. This will be of use to Li Qiniang." Li Bi said, "It's of no use to me."
"I see."
While he was talking, the voices of the old man and the children came again from the wall next door, and Li Mi couldn't help but listen. But he didn't hear the story today, and they dispersed early.
A messenger rushed over and said, "King Yong, there is an urgent delivery."
"Give me."
If it wasn't an urgent message, it wouldn't have been sent here. Xue Bai took it and looked at it, his face gradually becoming serious.
After reading it, he placed the information in front of Li Mi without saying a word, thinking alone.
Li Mi knew that Xue Bai did it on purpose and refused to accept the move. He closed his eyes and meditated quietly.
"The situation is not optimistic." Xue Bai did not let him avoid it, and began to say directly: "Shi Siming is preparing to go south to rescue An Qingxu."
Li Mi still opened his eyes, consciously picked up the message and read it. He sighed helplessly and said: "I once suggested to King Zhong that we should take Fan Yang first, because Fan Yang is the nest of thieves, and the thieves are constantly taking away the looted money and food.
Transport it back to Fanyang."
"Yes, he is as diligent as a group of ants." Xue Bai said, "This shows that Shi Siming's power will not be weak."
"Well, although King Zhong listened to my suggestion at that time, he thought that sending troops north was too mobilizing a large number of troops, so he sent someone to appease Shi Siming and allowed him to return to the title of King Yi. This move actually established Shi Siming's prestige."
Xue Bai said: "If Li Heng learns this news, do you think he will be overjoyed and think that I can no longer pursue him, or will he be shocked by the turmoil in the country?"
Li Mi sighed: "I wrote a letter to persuade King Zhong and King Guangping, but I have two requirements."
"You say it, I'll consider it."
"First of all, we must take the Supreme Emperor back to Chang'an as soon as possible. Only in this way can King Qing's accession to the throne be justified and people's hearts restored."
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"It's natural."
"The second thing is to be loyal to the king. After King Guangping surrenders, you must not hurt the lives of the two of them."
"Don't worry, Your Majesty will never kill each other."
Li Mi nodded, went to get a pen and paper, and began to speak slowly while writing a letter of persuasion to surrender.
"When King Zhong asked for reinforcements from Huihe, the Uighur Khan asked for marriage one after another. In addition to Dunhuang King Li Chengcai marrying a Uighur princess, King Zhong also married a daughter to the Uighur Khan, and Pugu Huaien also had two daughters who married to Yidi Jian
.”
"Why?"
Li Bi said: "At that time, the Huihe Khan made a request, but the loyal king could not refuse it, and the clan ministers were all reluctant to move forward, saying that they had fled Chang'an without any children, or that they were unwilling to marry their daughters far away.
He stood up. He did this out of loyalty, but it later caused a lot of criticism."
"Criticism?"
"Some generals in the army were worried that the reason why he was willing to marry a girl was because he deliberately colluded with the Uighurs."
Xue Bai asked: "Now that Ye Hu is defeated, Li Heng must give an explanation to Huihe."
"Yes, Pugu Huaien must have come forward in this matter." Li Bi said, "It is conceivable that there will be a lot of criticism in the army at that time. I may use this to persuade Pugu Huaien to come."
"Thank you very much."
After a while, Xue Bai received several letters written by Li Mi and was very satisfied after reading them.
But he thought about it, and when he returned to the public house, he picked up his pen and wrote a letter to Pugu Huai'en himself.
"Now Ye Hu has been annihilated as promised, so that my son-in-law can return to He, and the suffering of the wind and frost in the north can be slightly alleviated. All servants have the heart of loving their daughters, and they only hope that Duke Gu will show his righteousness."
Xue Bai read it and called the envoy. He first handed over Li Mi's letter and said, "This is the letter written by Li Mi to Li Heng and his son. You can send it over openly and honestly."
"Here."
"You try to pass this letter to Pugu Huai'en." Xue Bai said: "But it doesn't have to be completed. You may lose it accidentally and let others pick it up. Do you understand?"
"Don't worry, King Yong, I understand completely."
~~
Jingzhou.
Li Heng has been mentioning the matter of retreating to Lingwu recently, but Zhang Ting and Li Chu rarely have the same opinion, and they are both extremely opposed to this matter.
The reason is also very simple. Once he withdraws from Guanzhong, Li Heng's reputation and legitimacy will be greatly reduced. Then it will be impossible to compete with Li Cong for the throne. All he can do is to linger and be a so-called emperor living in a foreign land.
But what should we do if we don’t retreat? Li Chu believes that as long as he sticks to Jingzhou and continues the stalemate, Xue Bai will soon have no time to take care of himself.
Jianghuai had cut off Chang'an's food supply, and Guo Ziyi was pressing him east of the river. Li Cong was probably the first to defeat them. Otherwise, why would Xue Bai surrender after winning the battle?
Of course, Jingzhou is currently short of troops. To solve this problem, we can only ask for help from the Uighurs first, so that the Uighurs will share the same hatred with Xue Ni because of Ye Hu's defeat.
This time it was Pugu Huaien's eldest son Pugu Jun who was sent as an envoy to Uihe. Since Ye Hu had been captured, Xue Bai certainly could not let Ye Hu go. The Uihe Khan was old and would not go out in person, so he had to send reinforcements.
It can only be Pugu Huaien's son-in-law who moved to another place and led his troops.
No one thought that things would turn out like this before. They originally thought that Pugu Huaien's daughter was married to a bastard with no future.
The officials and generals under Li Heng's command were somewhat murmuring about this, but in times of crisis, no one would really speak out.
It was under such circumstances that Xue Bai's second batch of envoys arrived.
First, he described Shi Siming's trip south to Xiangzhou to rescue An Qingxu, and showed that the reason why Chang'an was willing to give them another chance was because of the overall interests of the country. After that, the envoy handed over Li Mi's letter.
Li Heng refused to read the letter, so he withdrew all the letters and waved the envoy away. He summoned the ministers and expressed concern about Shi Siming's move south.
"I tried every possible means to recruit Shi Siming to surrender. However, Xue Ni disrupted the situation. Hu Ni surrendered and rebelled again. The world is in danger."
Although he was worried, he felt a lot more relaxed, secretly thinking that Shi Siming not only saved An Qingxu this time, but also saved him.
Sure enough, the ministers were indignant and scolded Xue Ni for delaying the court's efforts to suppress the rebellion. They believed that the only solution now was to hold on to Jingzhou and wait for the opportunity to quell Xue Ni.
Li Hengzheng nodded repeatedly. Suddenly, someone came out and said: "Your Majesty, if Shi Siming goes south, then we have to consider Guo Ziyi's attitude."
"What do you mean?"
After asking, Li Heng quickly figured it out.
Guo Ziyi is a person who is loyal to the Tang Dynasty and has a righteous heart. It is very likely that in order to take into account the overall situation, he joined forces with Li Guangbi to deal with An Qingxu and Shi Siming first. What's more, Guo Ziyi may also fall to Li Cong.
Li Heng looked at the speaker and saw that it was General Xin Yunjing, and asked: "According to what Xin Qing sees, what should we do?"
"Why don't Your Majesty send an envoy to King Qing and ask King Qing to put the overall situation first and stop the troops for the time being. Deal with Fan Yang's rebels first? In this way, you can turn passivity into initiative and win popularity among the people."
"But how could Li Cong agree?"
Xin Yunjing did not dare to answer, but whispered: "Perhaps Your Majesty can make some concessions?"
"No!" Pugu Huai'en immediately yelled and said: "Prince Qing is just a puppet of Xue Ni, how can he give in to such a traitor? Now that he has asked for help from Huihe, Chang'an must support us first. I can’t help it. Besides, Guo Jieshuai is loyal and will never betray His Majesty!"
Xin Yunjing said: "What I discuss with your Majesty is the overall situation of the country, not the personal interests of the ministers."
"The selfishness of a minister?" Pugu Huai'en was furious and cursed: "You framed Guo Jieshuai out of selfish motives, but you said that I am disloyal?!"
"Pu Gu Gong is determined to invite reinforcements back to He. What is An Zhi's idea?"
"What do you mean?!"
After saying this, Pugu Huaien suddenly glared at Xin Yunjing with murderous intent, almost swearing at his highness. As soon as he got angry, many officials and generals who were originally dissatisfied with him stood up.
Their dissatisfaction has been going on for a long time. Pugu Huai'en fought bravely and risked his life every time, not to mention the fact that he killed his son to show his loyalty, which always made them feel that there must be a monster when something went wrong.
But what they were talking about was not the same thing at all, and the argument produced no results. In the end, the argument only became more and more violent.
They knew that it was a critical moment, but sometimes it was just like this. The more they couldn't fight among themselves, and everyone knew they had to endure it, the more they couldn't help but suspect and explode.
"That's enough, now is not the time to talk about this!"
Li Heng quickly asked the eunuch to separate the two generals and hastily dismissed the small court meeting, thinking that this trivial matter was over.
He sat there alone, and then he tore open Li Mi's letter. It seemed that it was nothing more than advising him to temporarily abdicate and return to Chang'an. Although his words were sincere, Li Heng rolled them up into a ball and threw them on the ground.
He understands the truth, but this is not a matter of truth at all, but why should he give up the hope of fighting for the sake of the overall situation and return to Chang'an to be a prisoner?
Suddenly, there were too many ambitious, ambitious, or talented people gathered in the small city of Jingzhou. They had to squeeze together because of their defeat, and they wanted to restrain themselves, unite, and tide over the difficulties together for each other's benefit. The conflict cannot be eliminated.
Some are determined to serve the country, some are selfish, some are loyal and straightforward, and some are suspicious by nature.
Finally, before Pu Gujun returned from his mission to Uighur, a small incident suddenly caused the conflict to break out.
"Sage, it's not good!"
The eunuch Luo Fengxian hurried up to Li Heng and said: "General Pugu and General Xin are fighting."
"Why?"
"General Xin got a letter and wanted to deliver it to the saint. General Pugu refused to let General Xin submit it, so General Xin handed it over instead, and the two started fighting."
When Li Heng heard it at first, he thought it was two people fighting each other with fists and kicks. However, he later realized that the situation was much more serious.
"Order troops? Order troops?! Order what troops?!"
"The two generals may want to unite their troops and horses for a decisive battle..."
"Rebellion?!"
Li Heng was furious and immediately ordered Li Chu to control the situation.
After all, Li Chu is the marshal of the world's military forces. He still has face in front of Pugu Huaien and Xin Yunjing. After going away for a long time, he finally brought them back.
"I am aware of my guilt."
Xin Yunjing's confession attitude was excellent. As soon as he saw Li Heng, he fell down and admitted his guilt. With tears in his eyes, he asked your Majesty to punish him severely.
After that, he handed over a letter with both hands and said: "I accidentally obtained this letter. It was written by Xue Ni and sent to Pugu..."
"False!" Pugu Huai'en immediately interrupted: "Your Majesty, Your Highness, this letter is fake. It is Xue Bai's attempt to alienate our monarchs and ministers!"
"Of course it's a lie." Li Heng quickly comforted him and said, "I must trust you, your servant."
Xin Yunjing said: "I also made it clear to General Pugu that I did not believe what Xue Ni said at all. It is the duty of a minister to present it to Your Majesty. You should not try to rob it."
At this point, he added, "Unless you have any intentions that are afraid of being known to others."
"Xin Yunjing! I think you just want to frame me. You know it's a rift and a conspiracy. The best way is to pretend you didn't see it..."
"Pu Gu is grateful!" Not to be outdone, Xin Yunjing also interrupted: "Apart from Xue Ni, Guo Ziyi, and Li Mi, didn't they send you a private message?"
Pugu Huaien turned to look at Li Chu and said, "Your Highness, can you trust my loyalty?"
"Of course." Li Chu quickly reassured him, "Pu Gu Gong's loyalty can be seen in the sun and the moon."
"Then why can Your Highness allow him to slander me repeatedly?"
Pugu Huaien widened his sincere eyes and looked at Li Chu, urgently needing Li Chu to speak for him.
He has given enough loyalty, and now, he needs some reward for his loyalty. Li Chu only needs to show sincerity that is less than one-tenth of his loyalty. In his opinion, this is natural.
However, Li Chu opened his mouth and had nothing to say.
Pugu Huaien arbitrarily ordered troops to start a war with Xin Yunjing. In the worst case, this was a rebellion. It was really difficult for him to say that this was right in an understatement in front of Li Heng.
For a long time, Pugu Huai'en's loyalty was more than enough, and Li Chu couldn't afford to repay him.
Seeing this situation, Xin Yunjing came to Li Chu's rescue and shouted: "Pugu Huai'en, don't you still know what your fault is?!"
"What's wrong with me?" Pugu Huaien blurted out: "Am I wrong for being too loyal?!"
As soon as he said this, Li Heng and Li Chu's expressions changed at the same time.