In his opinion, Xue Bai's pretentiousness after seizing power and pretending to be a loyal minister of the Tang Dynasty was completely the work of a tyrant. If he allowed it to continue, once the Yongwang Rebellion was pacified, the Yongwang Rebellion would not be far away.
Far away.
He was pacing back and forth in the government office with sighs and sighs. Then someone from the palace staff asked him why he was worried and wanted to share his worries.
Just as he was about to speak, Li Xiyan became suspicious, glanced at the other party, and said, "Are you just like Yuan Jingyao, who took refuge in King Yong for the sake of your future and wealth?"
"Why did the prefect say this? Is it possible that no one in the world cares about orthodoxy anymore? Although the villain is stupid, he can tell right from wrong."
After Li Xiyan heard this, he couldn't help but burst into tears, and he hugged the staff and cried.
Finally, he asked the other party's name.
"The villain Zhao Kan is a small official in Guangling County."
"Good righteous man."
In the past, these low-level officials were not qualified to talk to Li Xiyan, but now they can be entrusted with important tasks.
"I don't know who to trust now, so I can't be loyal to you. At this time, King Yong has forced the emperor out of Chang'an, and King Yong has seized the military power in Jianghuai. I don't know what to do."
Zhao Kan said casually: "Prefect, don't worry too much."
"oh?"
"This villain is stupid. In wars, all money is paid for is money and food. According to the practice of the Tang Dynasty, when soldiers leave the town to go on an expedition, the money and food expenses are all borne by the court. There is no edict from the court, so Guangling County should not pay this military expenditure. Yong
Although the king seized military power, he actually inherited a problem."
Li Xiyan was easy to understand and understood immediately.
As long as he does not give Xue Bai military expenses, Xue Bai will not pay military salaries and will soon lose the hearts of his soldiers; and if Xue Bai levies military expenses from Jianghuai, he will lose the hearts of the people.
Li Xiyan didn't expect that there were such talented officials in the government office. He was very pleased and asked: "In your opinion, what should I do?"
"The prefect might as well complain about illness, and when King Yong comes to ask for military expenses, he can just refuse to give them," Zhao Kan said.
"good."
Li Xiyan thought about it while stroking his beard and thought this was a good idea.
So he fell ill that night, and sure enough, Xue Bai came to see him the next day.
In the past, Xue Bai always pretended to go to Yangzhou to enjoy the mountains and rivers, as if he had nothing to do with the world. This was the first time he took the initiative to visit, and the purpose was naturally to ask him for military expenses.
Li Xiyan felt contempt in his heart, deliberately pretending to be sick and heavy, babbling, and not answering any serious questions.
Xue Bai had no choice but to say goodbye and leave.
After Li Xiyan left, he stood up, lay down at the crack of the door and peeked for a while. He was secretly proud and ordered Zhao Kan to keep an eye on Xue Bai.
After waiting like this for several days, every time I asked Zhao Kan how the situation was in the city, the answer he got was something like "King Yong is already in dire straits."
Li Xiyan hadn't played dominoes for a long time, and his hands became more and more itchy. He couldn't help but play Zhao Kan again today, but he never saw anyone.
It was not until he sent people to inquire one after another that he learned that King Yong had led his troops to march westward.
"What?" Li Xiyan was very surprised and asked: "How to solve the military expenses?"
"King Yong said that troops are more valuable than finesse, not large numbers, so he marched westward with only three ships and no more than 10,000 troops. In the name of the court, military expenses were borrowed from banks such as Fenghui Bank and salt merchants in Yangzhou.
After the victory, the principal and interest will be repaid, and the profit will be 20% higher than private lending..."
Li Xiyan was stunned for a while.
When he came to his senses and arrived at the government office, he already felt a sense of strangeness. Looking up, he saw that many busy officials had been replaced in just a few days.
"Where's Zhao Kan?"
Li Xiyan searched the entire government office, but never saw the clerk named Zhao Kan again.
He thought of how they hugged each other and cried, and suddenly felt very sad.
Yes, except for his family of the Tang Dynasty, how can a small official care about whether the successor to the throne has been a lowly slave and has doubtful blood? They only care about their own future.
Li Xiyan still had something to say to Xue Bai, so he hurried out of Yangzhou City and rushed south to the Yangtze River.
However, looking up, the Yongwang Tower and the ship were far away, and only the Yangtze River could be seen flowing in the sky.
~~
Guanzhong, Fengtian County.
Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty Li Zhi and Wu Zetian were buried together in Qianling, which is also the area around Qianxian County. They were set up as Fengtian County to honor their ancestors.
Emperor Li Cong has fled to Fengtian.
If you ask Li Cong why he ran away? He was actually in a state of complete confusion at the time. He only remembers that Dou Wenyang suddenly rushed into his palace, shouting that King Yong was about to attack Guanzhong, saying that he was concerned about the safety of the world and should consider his safety.
Leave immediately.
Li Cong didn't care about anything at the time, thinking that Li Lin was really about to reach Chang'an. According to Dou Wenyang's arrangement, he fled with his concubines and children, without even having time to say hello to the officials.
Although there was no sound of fighting that night, Li Cong still felt an atmosphere of urgency and danger.
They were staying in a dilapidated post house. When Li Cong turned his head, he could see Dou Wenyang's seven-year-old adopted son wearing a red official robe, sitting there blankly and yawning, looking at each other. On the contrary, he, the emperor, was a little at a loss.
.
Dou Wenyang was running back and forth, his forehead was covered with sweat, and his eyes showed panic, as if the rebels would attack at any time. Because of this expression, Li Cong always believed that Dou Wenyang had indeed received the news.
After finally arriving in Fengtian County, Li Cong immediately wanted to issue an edict and order soldiers and horses from all over Guanzhong to come to serve the king, but he did not see any officials for several days. He couldn't help but feel angry that these officials had no idea of loyalty to the country.
, actually abandoning him as a saint in times of crisis.
Fortunately, Dou Wenyang was loyal and diligent and arranged many strong generals to defend him, so that Li Lin's rebels were unable to march straight in immediately after entering Guanzhong. Every time Li Cong asked about the situation, Dou Wenyang would introduce several generals to explain the situation of the battle to reassure him.
"Your Majesty, this is Zhou Zhiguang, the assistant general of the Forbidden Army. He is good at riding and shooting. It was he who discovered the rebel sentry horses in Lantian and rushed back to report the news. Otherwise, King Yong may take advantage of the defeat of Cui Yuan to send troops to surprise Chang'an."
Li Cong looked around and saw that Zhou Zhiguang had a majestic figure and a fierce face. What was rare was that he had scars on his face, which made him feel sympathetic at the first sight.
Zhou Zhiguang's armor was still stained with blood. He saluted and said loudly: "The general will protect your majesty at the end of his life. No traitors will be allowed to harm your majesty!"
"What a great general!"
Li Cong became interested in talents and personally stepped forward to help Zhou Zhiguang. He immediately promoted him to the position of military envoy and ordered him to recruit warriors and protect the emperor.
In this way, Li Cong felt a little relieved, but where did Li Lin's rebels attack? What was the situation in Chang'an City? He still didn't know these questions. If he asked Dou Wenyang, the answer he got was that he was inquiring.
He could only sigh and continue to wait.
Fengtian is just a small county, and its food and clothing costs are naturally inferior to Chang'an in all aspects. It was night, Li Cong sat in the dim candlelight, covered with a rough quilt, thinking about everything he had done since he seized power and ascended the throne, and thought about himself
What on earth did I do wrong to make me unable to sleep?
“Tuk-tuk-tuk.”
There was a knock on the door, and the eunuch waiting in the room immediately became alert and did not dare to open the door. Instead, he stood in front of Li Cong and was at a loss.
"Father, it's the kid." Someone whispered outside the door, "The kid is Li Qiu."
Li Cong was greatly surprised.
If it were in Chang'an, of course it would be impossible for a prince to break into the emperor's palace at night. If it were more serious, it might be a serious crime of treason. This was how the prince Li Ying was deposed and killed.
For a moment, Li Cong thought that An Lushan and Shi Siming's sons had the intention of killing their fathers, and a chill ran down his spine.
"My child, I have something very important to tell you."
Outside the room, Li Qiu spoke again, his tone revealing an anxious tone.
Li Cong then signaled the eunuch to go over and open the door. He himself took a few steps back and stood by the screen, feeling inexplicably nervous.
The door opened, and only Li Qiu stood at the door. Several guards were also still there, standing on both sides looking at Li Qiu.
Li Qiu was wearing a spring shirt and a cloak, and came empty-handed without taking anything. The inexplicable sense of caution in Li Cong's heart immediately disappeared, and the tenderness between father and son came back again.
"Father, my child has something secret to report."
"What's the matter?"
Li Qiu hesitated slightly and said: "The reason why Dou Wenyang persuaded his father to flee Chang'an was not that Li Lin's rebels had arrived, but that he was worried that the ministers would kill him."
Li Cong was surprised and asked: "What does this mean?"
Li Qiu knelt down first and said: "The defeat of Dengzhou was believed by everyone in the court to be due to Dou Wenyang's monopoly of power, which brought harm to the country and the appointment of relatives. After Cui Yuan's defeat, several prime ministers and ministers were about to jointly submit a letter to ask the emperor.
The eunuchs were dismissed and King Guo Ziyi was summoned. When Dou Wenyang learned the news, in order to protect his life and power, he took his father and left Chang'an overnight."
"How could this be so?" Li Cong couldn't believe it and asked, "What about Li Lin?"
"Although the rebels entered Shangzhou, they still haven't passed the Yaoguan Pass. Why did my father abandon the city and flee!"
When Li Qiu said this, he felt angry and anxious, and couldn't help but cry because of Dou Wenyang.
He was young and the city was not deep, so he said whatever came to his mind, so he gritted his teeth and said: "For the sake of his own selfish interests, this powerful eunuch ignored his father's face and the safety of Chang'an, and did what he did to make his father a good person for the world."
What you laugh at cannot be redeemed by cutting it into pieces with a thousand cuts!"
Li Cong was stunned and could not imagine how the people of the world would view him if what Li Qiu said was true.
He couldn't face this, wishing that everything was just a big dream and nothing existed when he woke up.
But which moment will he go back to when he wakes up from the dream? Is it when he was manipulated by Xue Bai when he ascended the throne, or is it the small world in Prince Qing's palace... Thinking of this, Li Cong sadly discovered that there was no one who was purely happy in his life.
moment.
"The courtiers did not abandon the Emperor Father, but they wanted to see the Emperor Father but were unable to do so."
Li Qiu's voice rang out, bringing Li Cong back to the reality he had to face, saying: "Dou Wenyang controlled his words and even refused to allow courtiers to ask for an audience, lest his father would hear the truth and demote him."
"Where are they?" Li Cong asked, "Where are my ministers?"
"Xiangong Chen, Xianggong Wei and others have asked for an audience outside Fengtian County."
Hearing this, Li Cong became alert again.
He remembered that the last time Wei Jiansu also found a way to the East Palace. Time and time again, Wei Jiansu seemed to place his ambitions on the East Palace.
So, is everything Li Qiu said true? Is it possible that it is the result of the party struggle between North Korea and China?
Li Cong was still thinking, but Li Qiu couldn't wait to express his request.
"Please ask my father to depose Dou Wenyang and appoint Guo Ziyi as the deputy marshal of the rebellion. We will surely defeat Li Lin in the shortest possible time."
~~
It's night.
Dou Wenyang has already rested.
The conditions in Fengtian were poor, and he was worried about his son's safety, so he slept with Dou Yu in his arms that night.
Dou Yu could always smell the smell of urine and couldn't sleep. He stared at the dark room with his eyes wide open, recalling the saint's face full of scars.
Suddenly, there was a rapid knock on the door.
Dou Yu quickly closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep, but Dou Wenyang woke up quickly, opened the door, and asked nervously: "What's the matter?"
"The foreign ministers contacted the prince and complained before his majesty."
"What?!"
Dou Wenyang screamed and did not even bother to put on his clothes, he was too busy to go to the audience.
Rushing out the door, he remembered something and ordered someone to summon Zhou Zhiguang.
Zhou Zhiguang was an ambitious man. When he was young, he practiced archery diligently, and he also thought about serving the country. However, he had an arrogant personality. After joining the army, he often offended his superiors and found it difficult to be promoted despite his merits. Gradually, he changed his mind.
He believed that the most important thing was to climb up the ladder and gain power, so he began to curry favor with the eunuchs, and finally relied on Dou Wenyang, his great supporter.
In addition to killing people and looting money, and making a lot of contributions to Dou Wenyang, Zhou Zhiguang also did a lot of dirty things for Dou Wenyang at his command, and he was considered a very useful sharp blade.
"Mr. Dou."
"Those damn foreign ministers are coming to trouble me again." Dou Wenyang ordered: "Shock them for me. If the saint summons me, don't let them say bad things about me."
"Here."
Zhou Zhiguang agreed without saying a word.
He headed outside the city overnight, and sure enough he saw more officials and soldiers gathered in the camp at the city gate.
When they saw the city gate finally opened and someone came out of the city, the officials who had been waiting for the emperor to receive him all night rushed forward and started shouting.
"We have important national affairs to report to the saint. How dare the traitor dare to stop us? Can you bear the burden of delaying national affairs?!"
Some people almost pointed their fingers at Zhou Zhiguang’s face.
Zhou Zhiguang didn't shy away. He even opened and closed his nose, making a small gesture of smelling the other person's fingers, and then asked: "Who are you?"
"Censor Zhongcheng Zhang Lin."
At this time, Chen Xilie, Wei Jiansu and others thought they were being summoned by the saint and hurried out of the tent. They happened to see the next scene in the light of the fire.
Zhou Zhiguang suddenly took hold of Zhang Lin's finger pointing at him, broke it with his hand, and broke it immediately with a "click".
"Ah!" Zhang Lin screamed and yelled angrily: "What did you do?!"
If it were said that the incident at this point was just a rude general beating his courtiers back because they were rude to him, it would be considered reasonable. What happened after that was completely beyond everyone's imagination.
With a "bang" sound, Zhou Zhiguang pulled out his knife and slashed Zhang Lin's arm to the ground.
He didn't say much. He only answered Zhang Lin with this action what he was doing.
Blood spurted out wildly, and Zhang Lin was in severe pain and terrified. He staggered away with his broken arm in his arms.
Zhou Zhiguang didn't give up. In front of all the important officials of the court, he chased after Zhang Lin with a knife, stabbed Zhang Lin many times and knocked him to the ground.
"Don't kill me, don't kill me."
Zhang Lin didn't know why, and he didn't care about the dignity of an important minister, so he repeatedly begged for mercy.
Zhou Zhiguang said: "I not only want to kill you, I also want to kill your whole family."
Everyone was shocked. Such a crazy and cruel person came out of nowhere and wanted to kill the whole family for no reason.
"puff."
Before they could react, Zhou Zhiguang had already chopped off Zhang Lin's head.
Chen Xilie, Wei Jiansu and others were all stunned, watching helplessly as blood sprayed all over Zhou Zhiguang's face. They deliberately ordered the soldiers they brought to come forward and capture the thug, but they were worried about causing an uncontrollable conflict.
"Whoever dares to say a bad word about Mr. Dou, I will bury him alive." Zhou Zhiguang said these harsh words, glanced at everyone with a fierce look, turned around and walked away, as if he was in a deserted place.
Chen Xilie's lips opened and closed slightly, but he had nothing to say.
As long as a person lives long enough, he can really see anything. The big events in the court, on this night, are the same as the vendettas in the world and the struggles in the city.
"well."
Chen Xilie let out a long sigh and murmured: "It's a miasma, it's a miasma."
In his peripheral vision, he saw Wei Jiansu turning around and walking towards the stables. He quickly caught up and stopped him, asking, "Where are you going?"
"I have no intention of competing with Dou Wenyang when I encounter such an unbearable opponent. Otherwise, I would be demeaning myself."
"Then you want to abandon the saint?"
Wei Jiansu said: "I'm going back to Chang'an."
Chen Xilie couldn't help but his eyes flickered, and he immediately thought that the saint had fled too hastily and had forgotten the Supreme Emperor in Chang'an.
But what's the point of hanging around among these weak kings? It's better to vote for a real wise master.
~~
"How can your Majesty trust those foreign ministers with ulterior motives, but not the servants?"
Dou Wenyang arrived in time, prostrated himself in front of Li Cong and cried bitterly, saying: "They say that the defeat of Dengzhou was due to the slaves, and they also said that the rebels of King Yong entered Shangzhou, and the slaves fled with His Majesty out of selfish motives.
The evil one should file a complaint first. Although I have no evidence... Cui Yuan's defeat was probably due to the Supreme Emperor's order!"
"What did you say?"
Li Cong was stunned again by his shocking words.
He received so much news tonight that shocked him beyond belief.
Dou Wenyang still cried bitterly and said: "I suspect that Chen Xilie, Wei Jiansu and others want to welcome King Yong to the capital!"
After saying this, Li Cong's previous anger towards Dou Wenyang disappeared.
…
Li Qiu had been waiting outside for a long time, and finally waited until Li Cong and Dou Wenyang finished talking.
The strange thing is that when Dou Wenyang left, he did not show any fear of being dismissed, but rushed out at a fast pace.
"Father," Li Qiu entered and saluted, "Will you summon all the ministers now to discuss how to quell the rebellion?"
"There is no rush. I have ordered Dou Wenyang to be the envoy to observe the army and Zhou Zhiguang to be the military envoy within the pass to attack Li Lin." Li Cong said: "We will discuss other matters after we have defeated Li Lin."
Li Qiu was shocked and thought he had heard wrongly.
"How can your father be like this?"
When he came back to his senses, he couldn't help but be extremely excited and shouted: "How can my father still trust the eunuch at such a critical moment?!"
Li Cong was not in a good mood. He was reluctant to speak at first, but after hearing his favorite son yelling non-stop, he finally couldn't help but slap the case and yelled: "Shut up!"
"If the child shuts up, who can persuade the father? That traitor is a person with no talent and virtue. Why must the father reuse him? Have you lost your mind?!"
"Who else can I use? Who else can truly surrender to me?!"
Li Cong also got angry and slapped Li Qiu on the face.
There was a "pop" and the room became quiet.
Li Cong suddenly thought of taking Li Qiu to Zhongnan Mountain many years ago. Along the way, he held Li Qiu and pointed out the things he saw along the way. His son, who was well-behaved at the time, now looked down on him.
Feeling sad, he pointed at himself and said, "Look at my face. From the beginning, no one thought that I was qualified to rule the world."
Li Qiu was petrified and did not dare to speak. Tears kept rolling in his eyes.
"No one obeys me because I was not qualified to succeed in the first place, because I..."
Li Cong swallowed hard and swallowed the sentence "no heirs" that followed.
After all, the topic touched upon the most sensitive thing between them and the thing they least wanted to mention. After all, Li Qiu was not his biological son.
Li Qian, like Li Qiu, is the legitimate son of Prince Ying. Li Qian is a little older and seems to be more qualified to inherit the throne.
So what is he? A transition.
The helpless frustration surrounded Li Cong like a whirlpool, and he actually burst into tears in front of his son.
"Who else can I use? If I use the clan, he has evil intentions and intends to usurp the throne; if I use military generals, they will respect themselves and ignore the court's orders; if I use civil servants, they will have their own agenda and only seek personal gain. If I don't have eunuchs to control me, I will still
What can we do? If we kill Dou Wenyang today and hand over the lives of you, my father and my son, and the inheritance of our ancestors into the hands of people like Chen Xilie and Wei Jiansu, will we be able to feel at ease?"
Just as Li Qiu was about to answer, Li Cong said something that pierced the pain in his heart.
"Do you think your grandson, the Supreme Emperor, likes you more, or does he like Li Chu or Li Lin more?"
"this……"
Li Qiu thought of Li Longji and finally felt Li Cong's loneliness and despair.
He had never received the slightest care from Li Longji since he was a child. Considering that Wei Jiansu might have been instructed by the Supreme Emperor, he finally shuddered.
The emperor has no power, everything is sad.
Li Cong suffered a great change, and his mood was extremely low.
But two days later, he heard Dou Wenyang report a strange news.
"King Yong sent his horses to report quickly, and he has united the Jianghuai troops to attack Jiangling."
"Him? How could this happen?"
Dou Wenyang then handed over the memorial and detailed the details of Xue Bai's arrival in Yangzhou.
After listening to this, Li Cong was distracted for a long time, and gradually he couldn't tell whether Xue Bai was loyal or traitorous.
"Your Majesty." Dou Wenyang reminded with a look of embarrassment: "Your Majesty can only appoint King Yong as the governor of Jianghuai and conquer King Yong. The matter is a foregone conclusion. It cannot be changed whether the imperial court approves it or not. At least, King Yong is still willing.
I am petitioning His Majesty to appoint me."
This was a helpless matter, but this time Li Cong heard it and felt that compared to many people around him, Xue Bai was already respectful.
Thinking about it again, apart from the fact that she was not raised by herself, how much worse is Li Qian than Li Qiu? They are not biological children anyway, so who can say for sure whether Li Qiu will be filial in the future?
He suddenly discovered that all emotions are so fragile and fragile...