After driving the horse across the Xianyang Bridge, Chang'an City was finally in sight.
Xue Bai has already given orders to go down and wait for them to patrol the city and accept the surrender ceremony. Someone will escort Li Heng and his son back to the ten kings' mansion respectively and be under the custody of Baisun Court. Although they still have the title of prince, they are no different from prisoners.
"uncle?"
Suddenly a childish voice sounded behind him. Xue Bai didn't realize that it was calling him until the other party called him several times. He finally turned around and saw a child of about ten years old, who should be Li Chu's eldest son.
, his name is Li Shi, and his nickname is Tiao Lang.
Xue Bai was not in the mood to talk to the child. When Li Shi saw him turning back, he trotted up, raised his face, and asked, "Can I ask uncle a few questions?"
"What?"
"Uncle sent troops to fight back to He Yehu, did he encounter any resistance?"
"Of course there is."
When Li Shi heard this, he showed a genuine expression and asked: "Then how did my uncle overcome the opposition in the face of resistance?"
"It's just the word 'resolute'."
Li Shi breathed a sigh of relief, lowered his head and said, "But it's so difficult to do."
He just called me an uncle, and he was one of the few people in the Li Tang royal family who accepted Xue Bai. Xue Bai couldn't help but ask: "Who asked you to call me like this?"
"No one. My uncle is the son of Prince Ying, and he and my grandfather are brothers. Isn't he my uncle?"
Li Shi answered naturally, bowed, and said: "My uncle sent someone back to my mother-in-law before. I remember your uncle's great kindness."
"Why do you come here to ask me about Huihe?"
"I hate the Huihe people." Li Shi muttered: "The Huihe Yehu and my grandfather were sworn brothers and insisted on me calling him 'uncle', but he wanted to destroy the second capital of the Tang Dynasty and even touched me.
Boss, asking me to dance for him is really abominable."
As he spoke, he clenched his fist and waved it in the air.
"I think my third uncle is right. Heaven is on its way, and a gentleman strives to strengthen himself. How can a man betray the people for help? But my uncle refused to listen and said that I was an ignorant child."
Xue Bai thought to himself: "Child, your father and ancestors have already been like this. I'm afraid it's too late to talk about this now."
He had no time to discuss world affairs with the child, so he drove his horse into Chang'an.
And inside the gate of Chang'an City, with the shout of "King Yong is back", the people in the city suddenly became excited.
The rebels had invaded before, but this time it was Li Heng who attacked. Xue Bai had defended Chang'an twice. The people did not care who was the emperor, they only cared about their own survival and whether their lives could be protected, so they cheered sincerely.
It's a pity that today is the era of aristocratic families. These ordinary people have no power in the court and cannot help Xue Bai advance in his official career.
"That is the loyal king Li Heng who bribed the Huihe soldiers with the people of Chang'an!"
Suddenly someone in the crowd pointed at Li Heng and shouted, and the scene immediately changed again.
Due to the influence of newspapers, public opinion spread quickly. When Fang Guan took command of the invasion, the major daily newspapers in the city widely publicized the fact that Li Heng promised to return to Hehe with his children from two capitals, gold and silk, to boost the determination of the military and civilians to fight back. Therefore, Chang'an
There are very few people who don't know this.
Suddenly, there was a lot of curses.
Li Heng was also stunned. He had imagined countless times that he would take over Chang'an and dominate the world. Unexpectedly, the scene in his dream of welcoming people with baskets of food and pots of pulp along the street turned into a rat crossing the street and everyone was shouting and beating him.
No, someone must be secretly instigating this matter. Otherwise, how could any unruly people dare to insult the prince in the street?
It's Li Cong again, Xue Bai instigates...
"Crack."
Just when he thought of this, there was a sudden sound on the ground beside him. When he turned around, he saw that someone was throwing melon rinds at him.
The skin of the melon was somewhat rotten, and it must have been fished out after being soaked in a swill bucket. It made a loud sound when it was hit on the ground, and there was a stench of swill. Fortunately, Zhuque Street was built very wide, just to protect against the emperor.
When an assassin shoots an arrow during the parade, the melon skin cannot hit him.
Thinking about it again, there is little food in Chang'an now. How can any common people, except for the wealthy families, eat the melons and still have the skin left? It can be seen that it must be Li Cong and Xue Bai who ordered it.
All of a sudden, various objects were thrown at Li Heng, mixed with countless curses.
"Rebel!"
"ungrateful!"
"coward……"
Li Heng didn't look or listen. He held on to that thought in his heart, telling himself that this was a frame-up and a slander, and he could never be defeated by Li Cong and Xue Bai.
It's a shame that Xue Bai didn't order his soldiers to stop the people's arrogant behavior, so the people became more and more agitated.
Public opinion is getting out of hand, beyond what it should be.
Li Chu rode his horse behind Li Heng. He was also scolded and various objects were thrown at him and fell on his horse's hooves. He pursed his lips, his eyes were still firm, but he felt very aggrieved.
In fact, he had already made up his mind that he would not let the Uighurs plunder the two capitals. He would only regret it when the time came. Even if he knelt down to his adopted brother, he would still defend the two capitals.
It's a pity that Li Tan didn't understand his painstaking efforts, and neither do these stupid people today.
Further back in the procession, Li Shi rode his horse and walked among the family members of Prince Yu's Mansion. He was not the target of the people's anger. But when he saw this scene, he felt even more ashamed than his father and grandfather.
As a child in his early ten years, his skin was at its thinnest, and he quickly turned red. He tightened his grip on the reins and lowered his head slightly, feeling that all the humiliations and insults were directed at him.
For a moment, he even felt that he was ashamed of his ancestors.
Finally, the team walked through the extremely long Suzaku Street. After entering the imperial city, the angry civilians were stopped.
Inside the Zhuque Gate of the imperial city, all the dignified officials came to greet him.
"I have been ordered by the saint to welcome King Zhong back to Chang'an!"
Li Heng looked around and saw many familiar faces, some of whom were his former subordinates of the East Palace. He couldn't help but nodded happily.
Some of the officials looked at Li Heng with the same look of relief in their eyes. They all knew that King Zhong was obviously more orthodox than King Qing, who was supported by Xue Bai of unknown origin, and King Zhong could
He gave up the throne for the sake of the overall interests of the country and maintained the unity of the Tang Dynasty. He was indeed open-minded.
Another group of officials who supported Li Cong looked at Li Heng with the eyes of "the loyal king is still wise".
As for the promise of returning to Hehe with the money and silk children of the two capitals, people who are used to intrigues have become accustomed to this.
Sometimes, under the sanctimonious appearance of those in power, their bottom line is often lower than that of ordinary people in the market.
Li Heng was not suitable for having too many contacts with officials. After showing his face and expressing his position, the team turned to the Daming Palace to meet the emperor.
The majestic Danfeng Gate is also the place where Li Heng's soul lingers. He should have put down the rebellion and took over the throne. However, today, he can only meet its owner here in humiliation.
"The guilty minister Li Heng, pays homage to Your Majesty!"
He raised the national treasure with both hands high, his heart riddled with tears and tears streaming down his face.
No one can understand how he felt when he said these words. The glory that should have belonged to him was all taken away by Li Cong. But Li Cong was not worthy at all, an ugly, incompetent, and a waste held hostage by a child!
Li Cong squinted his eyes and looked at the national treasure in Li Heng's hand. What he was thinking about was that he finally got back everything that Li Heng took away.
He is the eldest son. But I don't know whether it was fate or some villain who secretly harmed him, making him infertile and disfigured his appearance. He fought so hard and turned the tide when the country was in turmoil. Now, now
It's just regaining part of what he lost.
"Third brother!"
"Brother! Your Majesty!"
As various thoughts flashed through their minds, the two brothers hugged each other.
Li Cong helped Li Heng up and said with tears streaming down his face: "I have always known that you were misled by traitors. All the officials don't believe it, but I do! I know you will come back and reunite with my brothers!"
Li Heng was so jealous that he almost wanted to die when he heard the words "I".
He cried loudly: "Your Majesty, the guilty minister mistakenly thought that my brother was trapped in Chang'an and was held hostage by the rebels. The guilty minister... deserves to die."
"Just change your past and it's over." Li Cong said, "You and I, brothers, should revive the Tang Dynasty."
Li Cong knew very well that in order to check and balance Xue Bai in the future, he would have to use the power of Li Heng and his son.
What's rare is that Xue Bai also knew that there was a possibility of their brothers joining forces, but he was still willing to persuade Li Heng to surrender, which was generous. Of course, this was because of Shi Siming's army in Hebei, the shortage of food and grass in Chang'an, and the threat posed by the Emperor's announcement to the world.
, it can be seen that the Li family still has to unite.
"Chu'er." Li Cong looked at Li Chu again, his expression even more enthusiastic, "I have heard about it, please advise your grandpa, very good, very good."
Li Heng turned his head and glanced at his son, his eyes a little cold.
Li Chu then realized that the relationship between father and son had been completely broken. Since it could not be restored, it would be better to turn to Li Cong more completely. Li Chu had done this before, so what couldn't he do?
"Your Majesty, the guilty minister pays homage to your Majesty."
"Get up, I haven't seen you for a long time, and you are even more heroic. The Tang Dynasty needs young and promising royal children like you most now, okay, okay!"
While talking, Li Cong waved to his sons and asked them to come and see Brother Cong. When Li Chu saw Li Cong, he put his hand on Li Qiu's shoulder and patted him, and he immediately understood.
For a time, everyone in the main hall was enjoying themselves.
But on the other hand, Li Cong could only show off the majesty of the emperor in front of his brothers, nephews, and when it came to specific world affairs, he was far from having power.
He didn't even know what Guo Ziyi's attitude was now.
~~
Prince Yu's Mansion is said to be a royal palace, but in fact it is just a small courtyard in Baisun Courtyard, but the most difficult thing about it is not that it is small.
When Li Longji was in power, there were family orders in Baisunyuan. Everything from study and homework to three meals a day were arranged by family orders. Now that Li Chu has surrendered and returned, the supervision has become even stricter.
Duguqin was taken in by Li Chu on the way to escape. This was the first time she lived in Baisun Courtyard. As soon as she entered the door, she felt uncomfortable when being looked at by the healthy servants.
Looking up at the square sky framed by the high wall, she felt like a bird in a cage.
However, Li Chu was very excited. He returned to his familiar residence and was no longer in a precarious battlefield. He felt that he was better able to use his skills.
From that day on, he also had an additional mantra.
"Be patient."
When Duguqin complained, Li Chu stroked her back and said softly: "A real man must endure what ordinary people cannot endure in order to succeed."
"The Kenu family really doesn't like it here."
"One day, I will let you live in the Daming Palace. Let's go boating in the Dragon Pond and watch a play in the Liyuan, okay?"
The next day, Duguqin was watching the falling flowers in the court when a palace maid came and said, "Madam, something has happened. King Yu has beaten Tiao Lang."
Duguqin was stunned. In her impression, Li Chu still loved Li Shi very much and had never beaten the child. What's more, now that everyone is locked up in Baisun Yard, what could happen to Li Shi?
Take action?
??????55.??????
Since she was idle anyway, she was curious and ran to beg for mercy. She stopped Li Chu and cried, "If you want to beat me, please beat me. Don't hurt the child."
Li Chu was reluctant to hit his beautiful love, pointed at Li Shi fiercely and cursed: "You traitor!"
Just when someone from the palace came to report that an envoy from the palace was coming, Li Chu threw down his whip and went to see the guests.
Duguqin wiped away her tears, straightened her clothes, and returned to her charming look. She looked at Li Shi and asked, "Tell me, Tiao Lang, how did you make your grandpa so angry?"
"Hmph, Hu Meizi is hypocritical, I don't need you to cry for me."
"You think I am willing to take care of you?" Duguqin said: "I married into Prince Yu's palace, and I have never experienced any blessings, but I have suffered a lot of sins. I have to raise children for your grandpa, so treat me better."
Li Shi ignored her, but felt sad when he thought of his biological mother, Mrs. Shen.
Duguqin asked someone to bring him medicine, and while applying it on him, he said, "Tell me, how did you make your grandpa angry? I'm really curious."
"I told my grandpa that I admire King Yong." Li Shi replied crisply.
"puff."
Duguqin was drinking water. She didn't expect such an answer and quickly covered her mouth.
"That's your grandpa's mortal enemy. How dare you say such nonsense?"
"You are just talking nonsense. My uncle and I are brothers and are both members of the Li clan, and they want to revive the Tang Dynasty. But it is you eunuch women who love to gossip, disrupting the brotherhood and ruining my family.
Sheji."
"Who taught you this at such a young age? But your mother-in-law?"
Li Shi was very angry and replied: "I think about it myself. I don't want to be like Aweng, who will be insecure about his throne all his life. I want to be like Uncle Jianning and Uncle Yong. I want to be both virtuous and strong. I am clearly right."
, Grandpa wants to hit me."
His little face was tight and he looked very serious. After hearing this, Duguqin covered her mouth with her hands and started laughing, saying: "It's ridiculous, you just say silly things, it makes me laugh to death."
Li Shi raised his head and looked at her trembling flowers. He was very annoyed that he had talked a lot to this ignorant woman, but she couldn't understand it anyway.
"Play the piano to the ox."
He muttered angrily to himself, covered his bruised butt and walked away.
Duguqin originally thought that Li Shi was Tongyan Wuji, but she didn't expect that Li Yuetu, Princess Hezheng's wife, came to see Li Shi that day. This made her envious to death. She was curious about how Li Yuetuo could do it if he was also from the Zhongwang clan.
Running around. At night, she asked Li Chu about it.
"He Zheng has been in Chang'an." Li Chu said: "They must be supporting Li Cong and Xue Bai."
"But I think Princess Hezheng's abilities are extraordinary."
Li Chu pondered, thinking of some past events. He tapped his fingers on his knees and pondered: "In the early years, I once considered promising peace to Xue Bai."
Duguqin was so bored that she was very concerned about this kind of thing and asked quickly: "Aren't they brother and sister?"
"Do you believe it?" Li Chu sneered slightly, "Now I understand that the reason why Xue Bai refused the marriage was because he wanted to impersonate Li Qian."
In fact, he couldn't tell whether he was impersonating him or not, but for now, he had to insist that Xue Bai was the fake emperor's grandson.
"Do you know why I know that Xue Bai is fake?"
Duguqin didn't know much about other things, but she was very sensitive to these matters. She understood immediately and said in surprise: "Princess Hezheng and Xue Bai? They..."
"Shh."
Li Chu said: "You can have more contact with Princess Hezheng. Prince Yu's palace is under surveillance, and it is difficult to exchange news. For some things, you have to rely on her."
"I understand."
Duguqin was a very simple girl at first. She never thought about interfering in state affairs. She even found it boring and disgusting.
But now she was idle and Li Chu needed her help, so she had no choice but to get in touch with him little by little to feel what privilege was and how to get it.
In the following days, she often took Li Shi to communicate with Li Yuetu, becoming one of the freest members of Prince Yu's palace. Although she did not dare to secretly deliver news to Li Chu, the sense of danger still made her a little excited.
Finally, she got an invitation from Princess Hezheng and entered the palace to meet Queen Dou.
Since the death of Li Longji's Queen Wang, there has been no queen in the Tang Dynasty, and there are rarely even crown princes. The only exception is Li Cong's first wife Dou. No one had expected that Li Cong would ascend the throne before, so the Qing Princess had a strange combination of circumstances.
If you become a queen by mistake, you run the risk of becoming the next Wu Zetian.
Of course, this risk is still very small at present, and Queen Dou did not say much to Duguqin, but only gave her four boxes of lotus seeds newly sent as tribute from the south of the Yangtze River.
"Is this the sage's intention to pity his fourth son, King Chu?"
On the way back, Duguqin held the lotus seeds and speculated in her mind, feeling that she was getting better and better at these conspiracy words.
When she arrived at Baisun Courtyard and got off the carriage, she looked back and saw several palace people gathered behind but did not come up. She couldn't help but wonder: "What's going on?"
"Madam...Tiao Lang is missing."
"What? What does this mean?"
"That's right, that's right, Tiao Lang is missing!"
Duguqin was stunned, and quickly rushed to the carriage behind to take a look, only to see that it was empty, and Li Shi was actually missing.
"How is this possible?"
This matter became a strange case, alarming the palace city, Jing Zhaoyin, Zongzheng Temple, and the Sixteenth Guards of Nanya. Countless people were looking for Li Shi's whereabouts in the city, but there was no clue.
The guards and palace people who were following the carriage on horseback said they saw nothing strange. A living person, or a child, actually disappeared into the streets of Chang'an.
Li Chu lost his eldest son and appeared anxious and calm in front of outsiders. In private, he said to Dugu Qin: "This must have been done by Li Cong or Xue Bai."
"The slave family is only worried that the husband will suspect that it is the slave family..."
"No." Li Chu said softly: "I know you won't do this. You can't send Tiao Lang away silently. We are either Li Cong's people or Xue Bai's people. Only they can do it.
"
"Then how to save Tiao Lang?"
Li Chu muttered: "You went to see Mr. Dou. What happened when you returned seems to be Li Cong's doing. He also had a motive to threaten me to help him support Li Qiu. But in my opinion, it is more like Xue
All for nothing, he wants to drive a wedge between me and Li Cong..."
"Lang Jun, what should I do?"
"It is the general trend that Li Qiu will be established as the crown prince. In order to prevent this, Xue Bai even resorted to such despicable means." Li Chu said to himself, "I will not fall into his scheme."
Duguqin was still crying, and the pear blossoms were raining, which made people feel distressed. Li Chu came to his senses, wiped her tears and said, "I won't cry anymore."
"There is something going on in the slave family. I originally wanted to tell Mr. Lang in the past few days, but when something like this happened, the slave family didn't know what to do, woo woo woo."
"What's the matter?"
"If you don't say it, if you say it, you will definitely suspect that the slave family did it."
Li Chu frowned, held Duguqin's hands, and asked in a low voice: "You have it?"
He couldn't help but be overjoyed, hugged the beauty in front of him, and comforted: "Fool, how could I doubt you? For the sake of the child in your belly, I will fight for the throne no matter what..."
Regarding the disappearance of his eldest son, Li Chu thought about countless possibilities, but he forgot one thing.
It seemed as if he would never think of Shen Zhenzhu.
~~
Xue Bai had been busy at Zhongshumen all day, and when he returned home, he heard Du Jin talk about Li Shi's disappearance.
"Really?" He said casually while writing and thinking about his reply to Guo Ziyi: "It seems that Li Chu must suspect that it was me."
Du Jin said: "If you want to take action, you can do it as early as when Jingzhou is in chaos, and will you bring people back to Chang'an?"
"So many people followed but didn't notice. There are two situations. One is that the people guarding him took him away, and the other is that he left by himself. He put on a set of clothes from a small yellow door and blended into the crowd while no one was paying attention. ." Xue Bai asked: "Is there anything that attracted the attention of the team at that time?"
"Yes, a soldier's horse lost control."
"Gao Shen?" Xue Bai pondered, "If I had to guess, it was Gao Shen who took away Li Shi."
"Who is that?"
"The person who eloped with the Shen family."
Du Jin suddenly understood and said: "Now I understand that Li Shi must have planned to find his biological mother after being beaten a few days ago."
"Let him be."
Xue Bai was busy dealing with Shi Siming's army and had to solve the problem of a large shortage of food and grass needed to suppress the rebellion, so he was too lazy to pay attention to such trivial matters.
Du Jin asked, "Do you know that there are many speculations in Chang'an about Li Shi's disappearance?"
"It must be related to the establishment of a reserve?"
"Li Cong thought you were trying to stop him from establishing the throne."
"I can't stop it. Guo Ziyi has already written to Li Cong asking Li Cong to appoint his son as his heir." Xue Bai said, "I have already agreed to him."
"It's a pity that we didn't win this time."
"It's not important. How many princes did the Tang Dynasty depose? Prestige and achievements are the real things."
Xue Bai had just promised to Feng Changqing and Guo Ziyi that he would not fight for the throne in the name of the emperor's grandson, in exchange for the stability of Guanzhong. It was not suitable to intervene in this matter at the moment. But he thought that he could take advantage of Li Cong to establish the crown prince and bring Li Longji back. , to stabilize Li Cong’s throne.
~~
Prince Yu's Mansion.
Dou Wenyang sat upright and said in a low voice: "I'm afraid that King Yu will fall into the trap of alienation."
"What did the envoy say?"
"Someone took away Tiao Lang while he was out of the palace. I'm afraid they wanted to deliberately make King Yu doubt the saint."
"I would never dare to think so."
Dou Wenyang then listened and whispered a few words. Li Chu nodded and promised: "Don't worry, I know what's going on."
"That's good."
Li Chu pondered: "I want to write a letter to Guo Ziyi, stating my interests and asking him to express his support for Your Majesty's appointment of the crown prince. I would like to trouble the envoy to try to send it to Hedong."
"That's great!"
Dou Wenyang was overjoyed.
In his opinion, the situation in Chang'an City was treacherous, and the case of Li Shi's disappearance was full of doubts and involved the country. Fortunately, he had a keen eye to see through the ploy and successfully prevented Xue Bai from alienating the royal family.
A few days later, Guo Ziyi, Feng Changqing and others officially submitted a request to Li Cong to make his legitimate son Li Qiu the crown prince, and Li Cong happily agreed.
This incident was the first step for the emperor to take power. Li Cong had a think tank like Dou Wenyang and saw the close relationship between Li Chu and Guo Ziyi, which greatly increased his confidence.
~~
Soon, information from all parties and the private movements of some people in power were discovered and sent to Du Jin.
Du Jin saw it and couldn't help but sneer at it and said: "You really think you are smart, it makes me laughable."