In fact, Pugu Huaien only needs to admit his mistake like Xin Yunjing when he first arrived and show a respectful attitude, and the matter may be over.
But he has a very stubborn character, and he believes in his high achievements and sacrifices. He must explain these things clearly, but he doesn't know that there are many things in the world that are actually unclear.
In Xin Yunjing's view, Pugu Huai'en was too domineering. If he wanted to allow such a man whose loyalty and treachery were difficult to distinguish to attract his Huihe son-in-law to enter the Guanzhong, it was even better to negotiate a relationship with Li Cong that was good for both of them and beneficial to the country.
conditions.
"Your Majesty, Pugu Huai'en is roaring in front of the emperor. I ask you to punish him for the crime of disrespect."
, until the truth is found out.”
Worried that Li Heng would not agree, Xin Yunjing also carefully selected the candidates to replace Pugu Huai'en.
"Ma Lin, the envoy of soldiers and horses recruited by the capital, is commendable for his loyalty and bravery. He also has merit in rescuing the troops. He can replace the servant Gu Huai En."
If Li Heng had been decisive, he would have dismissed Pugu Huaien from his post on the spot. With Pugu Huaien's loyalty, he would never have resisted on the spot. However, Li Heng did not want to do such a thing of burning bridges across the river, so he quickly scolded Xin Yunjing and refused to give any orders.
Let’s talk again, just pretend everything never happened.
In front of everyone, he tore Xue Bai's letter into pieces and said, "Go back, don't fall into Xue Ni's plan of alienation."
"Your Majesty, please..."
Pugu Huai'en was still unwilling to give in and wanted to prove his innocence. Li Chu quickly pulled him out, finally suppressing the internal strife.
At night, Jingzhou City did not quiet down, there were still people quietly moving around in the city.
A figure sneaked to the post house and knocked on Wei Shaoyou's residence. After a while, the door was opened.
"Wei Gong."
"Come in and talk."
Wei Shaoyou introduced the visitor, closed the door, a smile appeared on his face, and said: "You can come, it shows that you are a person who repays kindness, which is good."
The other party was originally a minor official who was promoted by Wei Shaoyou when he was the transfer envoy to Shuofang. Therefore, he was able to establish himself as a supporter and was granted an official title by Li Heng. Now he serves in Li Heng's Marshal's Mansion.
"I heard that King Yong also received life-saving grace from Duke Wei in his early years. He knew how to repay the favor and recommended Duke Wei to the emperor of Chang'an. I will think of him as a wise man."
"What a wise man." Wei Shaoyou said happily: "You are a smart man. Tell me, what news do you have?"
"Xin Yunjing had long suspected that Pugu Huai'en had rebellious intentions. Today he got the letter and it turned out that there was indeed a quarrel. The villain heard him and Luo Fengxian say, 'Ye Hu's defeat cannot be guaranteed not to be caused by Pugu Hua'en.'"
Wei Shaoyou raised his eyebrows, showed joy, and said in a low voice: "King Zhong, King Guangping places great emphasis on eunuchs, and he especially believes in what the people around him say. You should use this money to ask Luo Fengxian for an official, and then tell him that it was Pugu Huai'en who deliberately
Let Pu Gubin be captured and surrender to Chang'an. The reason why I killed this son was just because I was worried that the matter would be leaked."
"Don't worry, Mr. Wei, Luo Fengxian loves money as much as his life, and this matter will definitely be solved."
"There are rumors again that King Zhong intends to relieve Pugu Huai'en of his military power. For this matter, just ask someone in the name of King Zhong to ask Pugu Huai'en's generals."
"Young man understands."
Wei Shaoyou understood Li Heng's employment methods. He knew that this "sage" had not yet established his dignity, that he was too lenient and suspicious in his employment, and that his administration was not serious. He deliberately prescribed the right medicine for the situation. He came up with such an idea, and I believe that Li Heng could not prevent it even if he wanted to.
~~
As Wei Shaoyou expected, Luo Fengxian slandered Pugu Huaien in front of Li Heng.
He did this not only because of money, but because he believed that there could be no generals in the world who were more loyal than eunuchs. He castrated himself and entered the palace to serve. It would be better for him to kill all his sons.
Besides, Pugu Huai'en's two daughters married Yi Dijian, and when they turned around, Ye Hu was defeated. Those Uighur cavalry dispersed back to the grassland, fearing that they would be subdued by Yi Dijian.
In addition to Luo Fengxian, Li Fuguo and Yu Chaoen also had the same view on this matter.
"What if he sacrifices the saint to Xue Ni?"
Three people become tigers. When Li Heng heard this, he was afraid that he would be buried alive by Xue Bai.
In fact, he did not believe in Pugu Huaien, but he was afraid of causing turmoil and did not dare to easily remove Pugu Huaien's power, so he immediately became entangled.
Li Fuguo saw this from the side, then he thought about it and said: "Sage, I have a way."
"Say it quickly."
"Why doesn't the saint recall Guo Ziyi?"
Li Heng said: "I still hope that Guo Ziyi will besiege Chang'an. How can I recall him?"
"This is what I think." Li Fuguo said: "Li Mi said at that time that Wang Jin of Taiyuan, Li Guangbi of Xiangzhou, Zhang Xun of Yongqiu and others all supported Xue Ni, so he wanted to cut off his contact. But now Shi Siming went south,
Hedong and Hebei are too late to deal with Shi Siming, so why do they need Guo Ziyi? Furthermore, Guo Ziyi has been sending troops for so long and has done nothing. It must be because he has a personal relationship with Li Guangbi."
In fact, everyone understands that the bigger reason is not Guo Ziyi, but that Xijing Fengxiang was lost too quickly, which strengthened the determination of many generals from various places to support Chang'an. But it certainly cannot be said that way.
Hearing this, Li Heng couldn't help but nodded and looked at Li Fuguo with admiration. I don't know when the eunuch beside him had a unique perspective.
Li Fuguo raised his eyelids and quickly observed Li Heng's expression. He was now very good at figuring out Li Heng's thoughts and saying something that seemed to make sense based on it.
But in fact, the reason why he wanted to recall Guo Ziyi was very simple. He was afraid that Xue Bai or Pugu Huai'en would kill him, and he felt that it would be more reassuring for Guo Ziyi to come to calm the situation.
Li Fuguo continued: "The saint will leave Guo Ziyi to attack Chang'an. Even if it is captured, is it to make Guo Ziyi's prestige surpass that of the saint?"
Li Heng frowned and immediately thought of recalling Guo Ziyi, but he still hesitated.
"Nothing is more important than the safety of the saint." Li Fuguo continued: "Today the saint has few soldiers and is guarding Jingzhou. Only by recalling Guo Ziyi can the saint be safe. As for putting down Xue Ni, the Supreme Emperor has already announced to the world that Chang'an can come sooner or later.
, why rush for the moment? If Pugu Huai'en becomes rebellious, who else but Guo Ziyi can restrain him?"
Li Heng was finally persuaded and immediately issued an order to summon Guo Ziyi to Jingzhou to serve the king immediately.
At this time, it was less than a month after Fang Guan was defeated at Xianyang Bridge and Guo Ziyi sent troops to Hedong. However, Li Heng repeated his strategy and made Guo Ziyi run back and forth. It seemed ridiculous, but there was another reason.
It was Li Mi's idea to let Guo Ziyi send troops to Hedong. From the beginning, Li Heng felt that it was too much to sacrifice the near and the distant. He only agreed out of respect for Li Mi's so-called "overall situation" and "long-term". Now that Li Mi has betrayed him, of course he should not continue to persist.
its strategy.
This incident marked Li Heng's shift from following Li Mi's advice to more following the eunuch's advice.
~~
Before Guo Ziyi returned, in just a few days, rumors suddenly spread inside and outside Jingzhou City.
Many people in the army were privately discussing that the saint was going to relieve General Pugu of his military power, and the news finally reached Pugu Huaien's ears.
In addition, some illegal things done by Pugu Huai'en's subordinates were also brought up. Shuofang's army was mixed with foreigners and Han people, which was difficult to control. Pugu Huai'en did like to indulge the sergeants.
For example, his son Pu Gujun once saw the beautiful wife of a military general, so he kidnapped her without authorization. Because of Pu Gu's family's great achievements, no one dared to ask. Xin Yunjing has always looked down upon her, and now he finally took action to take her away.
The woman was taken back and returned to the general.
When Pu Gujun was sent as an envoy to Uighur but did not return, his soldiers stopped Xin Yunjing, and Xin Yunjing shot two of them dead.
The matter was brought to Li Heng's side, but there has been no result yet.
Fan Zhicheng, commander of Shuofang's march, entered the tent and said with a worried look on his face: "General, I have heard something."
"What's the matter again?!"
Pugu Huai'en was in a bad mood and was drinking heavily. There were countless bottles of wine piled up in front of him, and his face was red from drinking.
Fan Zhicheng said: "The last general heard that Luo Fengxian was having a feast with the saint, and reminded the saint to beware of the general becoming the next An Lushan. He has sent people to recall Guo Jieshuai in order to suppress you, general."
"How do I look like An Lushan?"
"Yes, apart from being a barbarian, the general has great military exploits, holds great power, and is deeply trusted by His Majesty. There is nothing else like An Lushan."
Pugu Huaien rubbed his eyes, sobered up a little, and asked, "Are you being sarcastic?"
Fan Zhicheng said: "General, why don't you think about it, the saint has been defeated many times in battles, and now who else can you rely on besides the general?"
"Of course I know, I am the pillar of the saint, so he should not doubt me."
"That's ridiculous." Fan Zhicheng said: "The more he can only rely on the general, the more afraid the saint will be that the general will betray him. According to what the general has seen, there are rumors in the army that the saint wants to relieve the general of his military power. This is not groundless."
Pugu Huaien's face stiffened, and a look of sadness appeared in his eyes. He threw the wine jar in his hand, got up and walked out.
Fan Zhicheng stopped him quickly and asked, "Where is the general going?"
"I'm going to see the saint and ask for dismissal." Pugu Huai'en spat on the ground and said, "He's full of passion, but he's being suspected. There's no point in fighting this war again."
After saying this, he suddenly realized that not fighting this war would only allow King Qing to be the emperor in peace, and perhaps the world would be at peace.
"No!" Fan Zhicheng said hurriedly: "Once the general loses military power, how can Xin Yunjing, Luo Fengxian and others let the general go? Doesn't the general think about himself and the whole family?"
Pugu Huai'en pushed him away and said loudly: "I am loyal to the country and have no other ambitions. Why should I worry about my own selfishness?!"
Fan Zhicheng knelt on the ground and cried: "I never want to stop the general from being loyal to the country, but I can't bear to see the general's loyalty trampled on. The more loyal and brave the general is, the more they despise the general. This is the end."
It will be the most heartbreaking thing."
These words touched Puguhuai'en's sore spot, and he could not help but feel sore eyes and burst into tears.
Fan Zhicheng added: "General, don't sit still and wait for death. According to what the general has seen, there are only two ways out at the moment. The best policy is for the general to give an order and order Shuofang's soldiers to capture Prince Zhong, Prince Guangping and his son, and take them to the capital to present them to the emperor.
Then the general will not lose his great contribution to stabilizing the country..."
Before he finished speaking, Pugu Huaien turned around, raised his foot and kicked Fan Zhicheng, causing him to roll twice on the ground.
"Coward! I will never do anything like this for a seller to seek glory. If you dare to say another word, I will kill you now!"
Fan Zhicheng got up again and said: "If the general doesn't want to do this, then he has no choice but to return to Shuofang to save his life."
Pu Gu graciously refused to answer, and thought for a long time. After all, he couldn't bear to abandon Li Heng and Li Chu like this, so he finally decided to write a letter to explain everything clearly.
He returned to the tent and sat down, called over Fan Zhicheng and said, "I said, you write it."
??????55.??????
Fan Zhicheng sighed, and seeing that he could not be persuaded to express his gratitude, he had to sit down and pick up his pen.
"I am a Yi from the Tiele tribe, and I have been loyal to the Tang Dynasty for generations since the Taizong Dynasty. I have received favors from the East Palace when I was young."
Fan Zhicheng then wrote "I am a native of the Yi people, and I am rarely driven by the emperor." At the same time, he shook his head and thought, what is the use of talking about it now? Once a saint becomes suspicious, it will only get deeper and deeper.
But Pugu Huaien kept talking about his achievements over the years, and then he became increasingly angry and out of control.
"Your Majesty did not pay any attention to it and allowed the slanderous people to do it. This is what makes me the most heartbroken and weeping. I reflect carefully and believe that I have committed six deadly sins and shall not be exempted from death."
"An Lushan's betrayal caused constant wars in the world. Regardless of my mother's age, I went to Lingwu to follow His Majesty and recruit troops to fight against the thieves. This is one of my major crimes of disloyalty!"
When Fan Zhicheng heard this, he was filled with indignation and wrote quickly.
"Beheading your servants to enforce strict military discipline and abandoning your natural love is an act of disloyalty to the country, which is the second crime!"
"The two daughters married far away to make peace for the country. If they join forces and perish, this is a minister who is not loyal to the country. This is the third crime!"
"I and my servant Gu Jue are performing the formation with due care and support for the Ning family. I am disloyal to the country, which is the fourth crime!"
"Xue Ni held King Qing hostage in order to command the world, but I rejected him as a senior official. I am not loyal to the country, and I have committed five crimes!"
"I conquered the Central Plains and am determined to revive it. I want to make your majesty diligent and filial, but I am not loyal to the country. This is the sixth crime!"
After the two of them finished writing this piece of paper, they both felt very happy.
Pugu Huaien's depression was relieved a lot, and he couldn't wait to have someone present it to Li Heng.
In his opinion, such sincere words that shed blood every word will definitely make the saint understand his loyalty.
If Li Heng could understand him, he would continue to be loyal; if not, he would lead his army back to Shuofang.
But he never thought that this was not so much a memorial to prove his innocence as it was a letter of challenge to challenge Li Heng's patience.
~~
A letter was opened, Xue Bai's eyes scanned between the lines, and he said: "Thanks to Li Changyuan's ingenious plan."
He likes to use this sentence recently. Whenever there is progress in recruiting and surrendering Li Heng, he must praise Li Mi, for fear that others will not know that Li Mi is assisting him.
The letter was sent by Wei Shaoyou, detailing various situations in Jingzhou and reminding Xue Bai to be careful about Guo Ziyi's return to the army.
If Guo Ziyi really returns to his army, it will indeed be a crisis for Xue Bai. Maybe Xue Bai was attacking Jingzhou City when a knight rushed over from the diagonal ground and shot him over with an arrow.
But if Xue Bai is scared away by Guo Ziyi now, he may also fall into Li Fuguo's plan.
Of course, Xue Bai would not be deterred by the idea of an ignorant eunuch, so he immediately called over Lao Liang and gave instructions in a low voice.
"You are going to recruit a group of elite soldiers. The number should not be too large, just over three hundred. Take out the armor and flags of Shuofang's army from the capture, pretend to be servants of Huai'en, and go to make noise outside Jingzhou City."
Lao Liang understood it as soon as he heard it and said, "Don't worry, Mr. Lang, I understand."
"Go ahead."
Xue Bai looked at Lao Liang's back and accidentally remembered what he had experienced in Chang'an many years ago. That suffocating vat was Li Heng's betrayal of him.
If there is an opportunity one day and he needs to bury Li Heng alive, he will never show mercy. But for now, he should still set his sights back to Hebei.
Compared to his ambitions, and even compared to the threat posed by Shi Siming, Li Heng is not that important for the time being.
~~
Li Heng was awakened from the suffocating nightmare again.
He dreamed that he was buried alive. When he woke up, he saw Zhang Ting's arms pressing on his neck. He struggled out, got up, and walked out.
It was already the fourth watch, and the main hall of the so-called palace was still brightly lit, and Li Fuguo was sorting out documents for him.
Seeing Li Heng coming over, Li Fuguo made a hasty move to put away a memorial, but was caught and had no choice but to stop.
"Show me."
Li Heng grabbed the memorial and saw that it was Du Hongjian's secret memorial. The words in the memorial were very euphemistic, but the content was very realistic.
It is said that Li Heng has a bargaining chip now that he has abdicated and returned to Chang'an. Li Cong cannot touch him. He can even resolve the conflict between the brothers and jointly get rid of Xue Bai. Li Cong has no children, and the throne can be passed to King Guangping to preserve the country.
.
He also said that Xue Bai's foundation is still weak now, so he is taking advantage of their brothers' feud to strengthen their power. Then, the most important thing is to end the brothers' feud. If they continue to resist stubbornly and consume their strength, it will not be good for the Tang Dynasty, nor will it be good for Li Heng.
All in all, the strategy of fighting against Li Cong and Xue Bai must be changed to uniting with Li Cong to fight against Xue Bai.
Du Hongjian said this rationally, but the fact is that once Li Heng returns to Chang'an, he is more likely to be a prisoner who will be mermaided. It is extremely difficult to achieve these goals. And Du Hongjian can turn to Li Cong at any time.
"Saint." Li Fuguo said: "Du Hongjian rebelled..."
"Stop talking."
Li Heng waved his hand, knowing that it was precisely because Li Fuguo thought Du Hongjian's words were reasonable that he wanted to hide the memorial.
He was distraught and didn't understand why his life was such a failure.
"Your Majesty, there is also this."
Li Fuguo handed over another memorial to Pugu Huai'en and said in a low voice: "I think it seems to me, Pugu Huai'en, that Pugu Huai'en is being disrespectful..."
When Li Heng saw it, his face immediately froze, and he paced uneasily and said, "Summon Li Chu, Fang Guan, Xin Yunjing, Ma Lin and others to come."
He is not a decisive person. When everyone comes, they must have different opinions and discuss for a long time, making it difficult to make a decision.
Sure enough, even after seeing such a memorial, Li Chu still believed that Pugu Huai'en had not rebelled, but he did not dare to insist on it, for fear that Li Heng would suspect that he had colluded with Pugu Huai'en; Xin Yunjing firmly believed that Pugu Huai'en had
Wynn rebelled.
At this moment, suddenly, drums sounded loudly outside the city.
"What's going on?!"
Li Heng quickly sent someone to inquire. Not long after, the supervisor Yu Chaoen rushed over.
As soon as he entered, Yu Chaoen prostrated himself on the ground and cried, "It's bad! Pugu Huai'en has rebelled!"
Others thought he came from the barracks outside the city and entered the city in a hanging basket. In fact, he was able to come here so quickly only because he lived in the city.
This eunuch was greedy for life and fearful of death, but also did not want to be seen by Li Heng. He had to tell the situation in the barracks, so based on what he had found out, he said with great certainty: "The generals under Pugu Huai'en are making trouble.
It was noisy that Pu Gu held the saint hostage because of his kindness and wanted to sacrifice it to Xue Ni!"
"Really...really?"
"The slaves heard with their own ears that they were shouting, 'The loyal king does not believe in the general, so I will capture the loyal king tonight and bring order to the chaos!'"
At this point, Yu Chaoen realized that he was wrong and added: "I saw it with my own eyes!"
Luo Fengxian was shocked when he heard this. He jumped on his feet and said sharply: "I knew earlier that I was determined to rebel!"
At this point, even Li Chu could no longer speak for Pugu Huaien, so he could only salute Li Heng and said: "Pu Gu Huaien didn't want to rebel, but he was misled by the left and right."
Li Heng's defenses were finally shattered. He burst into tears and raised his hands to ask Heaven: "It's the fault of the Tang Dynasty. Can't we allow the Tang Dynasty to have a general who will not rebel?!"
Hearing this, Xin Yunjing, Ma Lin and others all strode forward, clasped their fists and said, "Your Majesty! I am willing to put an end to the Huai'en rebellion!"
Although the words were generous, in fact they all knew that after this change, their vitality was severely damaged and they were no longer able to compete with Xue Ni.
~~
"General!"
Pugu Huaien drank a lot of wine tonight, and was woken up from being drunk. He heard hundreds of people making noise outside the camp.
Before he sobered up, more people in the camp had been mobilized, and even the police could not suppress them.
Seeing this situation, Fan Zhicheng knew that something bad was going on and advised his servant Gu Huaien to make preparations in advance, either to go to Xue Bai or to lead his troops back to Shuofang.
At first, Pugu Huai'en didn't believe it.
But not long after, Xin Yunjing and Ma Lin had ordered their troops overnight to attack him, and he couldn't help but not believe it.
"How can it be like this? How can it be like this?" Pugu Huaien looked up to the sky with grief and anger, beat his chest and feet, and said: "My troops have been loyal to the Khan of Heaven for generations, how can it become a rebellion?!"
"General, make a decision quickly!"
Pugu Huai'en could not make a decision, and had only one thought in his mind. For such a big matter, he had to listen to Guo Ziyi. In addition, his eldest son Pugujuan was still on an envoy to Huihe, asking for troops to defeat Xue Ni.
This made him feel that temporarily returning to Shuofang to wait and see would have more room for choice.
At this point, he actually didn't want to completely fall out with Li Heng and his son, so he shouted: "Let's go back to Shuofang!"
…
It was a chaotic night. People outside Jingzhou City raised their horses and neighed. When dawn came, a mess was left on the ground.
When the morning sun shone down, the camp of Shuofang Army was still there, with some corpses spread on the ground. The soldiers who had not left the camp squatted on the ground holding their heads, numb and at a loss.
Li Chu climbed to the top of the city and looked around, his eyes losing their former glory.
He really doesn't understand why everything is like this. He prides himself on being wise, but he doesn't know what he did wrong that caused the situation to become like this.
"Brother, don't you understand yet?"
Suddenly a familiar voice came to mind in his ears, and Li Chu was in a trance for a moment, realizing that he had not slept for several nights and was hallucinating.
The figure of Li Tan appeared in his mind, so he shook his head to get rid of the figure.
"I have said it from the beginning. I hope that Huihe will regain the two capitals and it will be successful. Brother will never be able to make up for the consequences of weakness in his lifetime..."
"Go away!"
Li Chu was furious and yelled and cursed.
Li Tan's voice was still ringing.
"Brother, you are not strong-willed and do not dare to pursue long-term goals. You are afraid of long nights and dreams. When you ask for reinforcements, you will not hesitate to sacrifice the people of Erjing, because you know from the bottom of your heart that you are weak, weak in your bones!"
"You're talking nonsense! You're already dead!"
"You killed me because you were weak at heart, right? In the same way, you can never trust Pugu Huai'en. His betrayal is doomed, otherwise he will be like me, a fly that can't bite a seamless egg.
"
"Shut up!"
Li Chu went crazy, turned his head again, but was stunned again. The hallucination in his mind had dissipated, but at the junction of heaven and earth, a troop of soldiers and horses had appeared.
Xue Ni's troops came to the city.
But Pugu Huaien and his troops were no longer there.
Li Chu stared at this scene blankly, and finally fell down. A question came to his mind... Is he really going to fall?