With the last dusk drum, Chang'an City was shrouded in darkness, and all the lights of Pingkangfang Sanqu were lit.
The musicians on the stage plucked the strings and sang new songs. Off the stage, the high-spirited patrons hugged the shoulders of the beautiful prostitutes, drank happily, and spent money like water.
The atmosphere was tense, and a man with a gloomy face walked in, pushed away the boy who tried to stop him, and patted several people on the back as he walked.
The people he photographed were tasting rouge, and they were inevitably annoyed when they were suddenly interrupted. But when they turned around, they all showed fear.
"General Ji."
The man with a gloomy face was Ji Guangchen, the general under King Yong. He glanced at all the generals and said, "Follow me."
"Here."
Everyone responded, but someone else burped, and the sound was very abrupt. Ji Guangchen heard it when he turned around, and wanted to say something, but said nothing.
At the door, the old madam known as "Bangtan" saw someone coming to take away most of her guests, and she cursed in her heart that this "dead ghost rushing to be reincarnated" would not have a good death.
Ji Guangchen went out and breathed a sigh of relief when he could no longer smell the strong smell of wine and rouge.
Although Chang'an was nice, this gentle hometown made him feel extremely dangerous.
Before leaving Pingkangfang, danger came.
Accompanied by the clanking of armor, the sound of hooves and footsteps, a group of Jinwu guards holding torches quickly surrounded them.
"Who broke the ban?!"
"We are the generals of the Yongwang soldiers!"
Ji Guangchen looked at the light of the torch and saw that it was a heavily armed Jinwu Guard, and he immediately became vigilant.
After entering Chang'an, Li Lin certainly tried to control Chang'an's defenses. Unfortunately, he did not dare to go to war with the Forbidden Army. Instead, under the mediation of Wei Jiansu, the two sides made an agreement that Li Lin's troops would defend the outer city and the imperial city, and the Forbidden Army would only
Responsible for the palace city, this is why Ji Guangchen and his subordinates dared to walk freely in Chang'an City.
But in fact, Li Lin's army had neither experience nor good command, and could not fully deploy its defenses. The reason why there had been no accidents for so many days was entirely due to the self-consciousness of the imperial troops.
It is not known whether the Jinwu Guards who appeared tonight have taken refuge with Li Lin and were arranged here, or whether they have overstepped their territory.
If we take action at this time, we can surround and kill Ji Guangchen.
"Pingkangfang should be guarded by King Yong's troops and horses." Ji Guangchen said, "Why are you waiting here?"
"There is no one to watch at night. What should I do if there are thieves or water leaks? Bring me the documents for walking at night!"
When General Jinwuwei spoke, his soldiers quickly ran around Ji Guangchen and others, surrounding them.
Ji Guangchen saw that the other party had shown murderous intent, and put his hand on the handle of the knife, ready to fight to the death at any time. At the same time, he asked his subordinates to take out documents and pretend to deal with it.
However, after the other party checked the documents, he nodded and said: "There are indeed documents that walk at night."
After saying that, he gave an order and rushed away with the soldiers in tow.
Ji Guangchen was a little confused, and then felt very lucky. He knew that if he took action in the situation just now, his chance of survival would be extremely slim.
Fortunately, there is still order in Chang'an City.
As a rebel, it was only this time that he was suddenly in the weak position that he deeply felt the value of order.
Returning to his temporary residence, Ji Guangchen closed the door and turned to look at the frivolous generals. He thought to himself, if King Yong asked him to lead these people to assassinate King Yong, what's the difference between it and committing suicide?
In terms of military performance, King Yong was far behind compared to King Yong. Originally, he thought that King Yong was sitting in Fanyang and wanted to separatist rule. This would be King Yong's opportunity. Unexpectedly, King Yong rebelled and King Yong immediately They launched a crusade on behalf of the imperial court and captured Jiangling, cutting off their escape route.
In this case, why is there any need to stubbornly resist?
"You and I follow King Yong with the intention of clearing out the treacherous officials and supporting the country. If we had followed the Emperor's decree before, great things could have been accomplished. However, King Yong was determined to ascend the throne and attracted the soldiers and horses of King Qin to besiege us. We were listed as rebels. Do you think it’s worthy of future generations?”
Ji Guangchen said, putting his hand on the knife again, waiting for someone to object before he started to get rid of it. At this time, he looked around and found that everyone was looking at each other with no intention of objecting.
He then continued: "I plan to defect to King Yong and seek a future. What do you think?"
The reason why he chose Xue Bai instead of Guo Ziyi was because he wanted greater benefits.
Although it is safe to go to Guo Ziyi now, you will miss a great opportunity that may be the result of Conglong.
"General." Someone immediately spoke and put forward an opinion, "Since ancient times, surrender has to be expressed. If we surrender empty-handed, how can we talk about our future?"
"What do you want?"
"General, why don't you kill King Yong? King Ti Yong's head surrendered to King Yong. Only in this way can we achieve great achievements and help us share the wealth."
Ji Guangchen hesitated a little, put one hand on his chin, walked back and forth, thinking, then walked behind the person who just spoke and patted him on the shoulder.
"What you said makes sense."
Suddenly, Ji Guangchen grabbed the general's neck with one hand, pulled out the dagger with the other hand, and stabbed him several times.
"Puff puff puff."
As blood spattered, Ji Guangchen spoke the second half of his sentence.
"I am planning a way out for you and others, but I dare not forget the great kindness that King Yong has shown to us. If the kindness is repaid with revenge, I can kill King Yong today, but you will kill me in the future!"
With that said, Ji Guangchen dropped the body in his hands, his face already covered in blood.
He said to everyone again: "Since ancient times, it is difficult to have both loyalty and righteousness. I want to surrender to King Yong to protect the lives of all my brothers and to maintain my loyalty to the country. I really can't bear to kill King Yong and hope not to destroy the kindness of the past. Do you think it is okay?"
"We will follow the general!"
"good!"
Ji Guangchen then made a blood alliance with everyone, and then contacted his tribes to prepare to welcome King Yong into the city.
~~
That night, Li Lin couldn't sleep.
He didn't understand why as soon as the news of Xue Bai's capture of Jiangling and the arrival of troops in Chang'an was sent, both his generals and the officials in the court immediately changed their attitudes. Is he much worse than Xue Bai? It's his personal charm.
Governing ability, or difference in command level?
Li Lin didn't think she was any worse than Xue Bai. She believed that the main reason was that her momentum had not yet been unleashed. As long as she took Xue Bai's head to frighten the government and the opposition, the situation would be completely different.
"Your Majesty, something is urgent!"
Suddenly there was an exclamation outside the door, and Li Lin couldn't help but wonder if Ji Guangchen had already done it.
He stood up and opened the door, and sure enough he heard the news from Ji Guangchen.
"General Ji led his troops to rebel, and has now sent people to welcome King Yong into the city!"
"What? This damn dog Shacai!"
Li Lin was stunned for a moment and then became furious.
He didn't have time to think about it. If Ji Guangchen hadn't wanted to protect him, the first thing he would have done was not welcome Xue Bai into the city, but capture him, or let the imperial army capture him.
The reason why he could get the news in advance at this time was because Ji Guangchen missed his old friendship and couldn't bear to harm him.
When Li Lin was angry, the first thing he did was to send his subordinates to kill Ji Guangchen and appointed General Feng Jikang to replace him in the military.
However, in the blink of an eye, another news came.
"Your Majesty, it's not good, Feng Jikang has left the city to defect to Guo Ziyi!"
Li Lin didn't answer. She was hurriedly getting dressed and tidying up her clothes.
When the danger approached, the unwillingness and arrogance in his heart were quickly dispelled. He knew that he would not be a match for Xue Bai and Guo Ziyi in Chang'an. Now that Jiangling was also lost, he could only go to Shu or Tubo.
Then you have to flee westward immediately before Guo Ziyi crosses the Wei River.
Although Ji Guangchen protected Li Lin, he could not suppress the fact that there were still many people in Chang'an City who wanted to capture Li Lin. After a while, people began to pour in, and the light of torches illuminated half of the square.
Li Lin, who had not finished cleaning up, was shocked when she saw this, and in a hurry, she just took his wife and eldest son and fled.
He led hundreds of soldiers out of the square gate and took advantage of the cover of night to rush to the Jinguang Gate in the west.
Fortunately, the city gate was still under his control, and Li Lin escaped from Chang'an overnight.
~~
Xue Bai did not expect that he would be warmly welcomed into Chang'an so soon.
At that time, he had just arrived at Lantian Station. This time he revisited his old place, but he did not have much time to exchange poems with Li Bai. Since the case of the three common people had been brought to light, he should have been sentenced to death when he was worshiping at Lantian Station in his current status.
The three common people and Xue Xiu.
"My dear son, Li Qian, I'm so sorry, Shang Xiang!"
As the ceremony officer presiding over the sacrifice shouted at the top of his voice, the three armies fell silent.
After Xue Bai's death, Lu Jiong, Lai Yi, Wei Zhi and others also looked very sad and solemn. They cared more about this memorial ceremony than Xue Bai, because it represented the recognition of some mistakes made by the Supreme Emperor when he was in power and the restoration of chaos.
At this moment, shouts came from the post house, mixed with a sharp shout.
"What's the matter?" Lai Yi asked.
"When I returned to the prefect, there was a madman shouting that he wanted to see King Yong."
Lai Yi frowned and asked more carefully until the soldiers found an old official from Lantian to explain the situation.
"The name of the noisy man is Guo Suo. He was an injured person rescued by villagers near Lantianyi more than 20 years ago. It seems that he was frightened by something he saw and had a brain problem."
"What happened?"
"this……"
The old official didn't want to say anything. His lips trembled for a while but he didn't say anything.
Lai Ainsui urged with a stern expression: "Speak!"
The old official hesitated for a long time, and when he saw that he could not pass the blame, he said: "I saw the situation when the three common people and the prince-in-law were sentenced to death, and I was so frightened that I went crazy."
"Your Highness!"
Suddenly, a horrified shout attracted everyone's attention.
Turning around, I saw the soldiers holding back a man with disheveled hair and dirty body, who must be Guo Suo.
Guo Suozheng was shouting that he wanted to come over here. You could tell he was really crazy.
The brain of a madman does not protect itself by limiting its force, so it is often extremely powerful. This is the case with Guo Suo. Although he is skinny and unarmed, he can push away those strong soldiers wearing armor and force them almost to the limit.
Putting the weapon on his neck for the first time.
"Don't hurt him!" Lai Yi shouted quickly, "Let him come over."
As a result, the soldiers relaxed a little, and Guo Suo took advantage of this, roared and pushed everyone away, and rushed straight towards Xue Bai.
"Protect King Yong."
The soldiers around Xue Bai stood in front of him in an orderly manner.
When Guo Suo saw it, he became even more nervous and roared several times in succession.
"Your Highness!"
"Your Highness, leave quickly! They are going to kill you!"
Afterwards, there was a "bang" sound, and Guo Suo was knocked to the ground by Xue Bai's guards with their shields. Two or three people rushed forward and held him down.
But he was still struggling, his face flushed with excitement.
"Your Highness, let's go! Let's go!"
The old official of Lantianyi was worried that this situation would be misunderstood as an assassination, so he quickly knelt down and kowtowed, saying: "Don't blame King Yong. I guess, he used to be a guard of Prince Ying. He wanted to rescue Prince Ying, but he lost consciousness after being seriously injured."
…”
There is no need for him to explain, everyone present is smart, so of course they can see it.
Wei Zhi stepped forward in person, comforted Guo Suo with a few words, and then tore off the ragged clothes on Guo Suo's back, revealing a back full of scars in front of everyone.
The stab wounds were coiled like centipedes, and it was obvious that they were all old wounds.
Guo Suo was still rolling and struggling, showing off his thin upper body. The skin was tightly constricting his two rows of ribs, as if they were about to be pierced. His belly below was a little bloated. He must have eaten a lot of tree bark and other indigestible foods.
things.
Wei Zhi leaned down again and carefully observed Guo Suo's teeth, palms, calves and other parts before turning back.
"The scars were indeed left more than 20 years ago. Although this man is thin, has broad bones, and has brave eyes, he may have been a guard of Prince Ying. His hands have scars and calluses. It seems that he has been living outside for these years.
It is thought to be caused by the handling of cattle and horses..."
"Your Highness!"
Guo Suo was still shouting. He raised his head and looked at Xue Bai. He actually smiled, with deep nostalgia in his eyes, and murmured repeatedly: "Your Highness."
Xue Bai was not a prince, but today the loyal officials behind him who valued honor and integrity the most did not pursue this arrogant title. Instead, they looked at Guo Suo and stroked their beards with emotion.
"He thinks King Yong is Prince Ying."
In fact, Lu Jiong, Lai Yi and others were not without suspicion.
They suspected that this was deliberately arranged by Xue Bai, but when they turned their eyes to Wei Zhi and asked with their eyes, Wei Zhi took a few steps forward and said in a very small voice: "It doesn't seem to be fake."
Lai Yi saw with his own eyes that it was not arranged by King Yong. His face was solemn and his eyes were a little red, and he said: "He is really a loyal and righteous man!"
"Twenty years of injustice have been redressed, and our loyal servant and old master can meet again. It's because Prince Ying has a spirit in heaven."
Xue Bai pushed aside the guards around him and stepped forward to help Guo Suo himself.
"Your Highness, leave quickly, the saint wants to kill you."
Guo Suo did not struggle anymore, but urged anxiously.
Xue Bai looked at the man carefully, trying to see through the dust on his face to see his intentions, but he only saw deep concern and worry.
Then, he subconsciously lowered his head and glanced at his robe.
"Quick, Your Highness, let's go!"
"No need to leave." Xue Bai said, "It's fine now."
"Your Highness..."
"The saint forgives us."
Guo Suo was overjoyed and wanted to say something, but rolled his eyes and fainted.
Xue Bai could feel countless pairs of eyes behind him staring at him, so he ordered people to take good care of Guo Suo with a concerned tone. He gave several instructions, with a kind of joy and concern for the reunion of relatives in his tone.
But at this moment, what he was thinking about was how could there be such a coincidence? He had never seen Guo Suo several times when he went to Lantianyi, so he pretended to be Li Qian and met him as soon as he arrived?
What's more, with so many people, Guo Suo could mistake him for the prince Li Ying at a glance. How similar would he have to be? But the fact is that no one had ever said that he looked like Li Ying earlier.
If there is no such coincidence, it must be arranged by someone. Who?
Xue Bai glanced around casually, passing by Lu Jiong, Lai Yi, and Wei Zhi, and then looked at his staff.
In his opinion, Yan Zhuang, Yuan Zai, and even Du Jin are all people who can do these things... No, with his current status, there is no need to do anything extra. He has even begun to consider giving up the name of Li Qian and directly usurping the throne.
.
So maybe the person behind the scenes doesn't have good intentions?
These are two major directions of speculation. Xue Bai also occasionally thought about whether Guo Suo was really Li Ying's guard. He made the assumption because he heard that he was Li Ying's son.
As for the possibility that Li Ying's guards recognized that he was indeed Li Ying's son, he refused to thank him. He had done many things to kill people and seize wives from the Li Tang royal family...
While he was thinking wildly, the rapid sound of horse hooves disrupted his thoughts. Reports came from the front that soldiers and horses from Chang'an were coming to welcome him into the city.
"The guilty general Ji Guangchen welcomes King Yong to Chang'an!"
As soon as they met, Xue Bai watched the fierce general prostrate himself in front of him. Xue Bai was still thinking about how to test whether Ji Guangchen was sincerely surrendering or pretending to surrender, when a messenger arrived from the front again.
This time, the emissary sent by Chen Xilie came a little later than Ji Guangchen. However, although he came late, he brought a complete set of documents.
Zhongshu Menxiasheng was issuing an edict in the name of the Supreme Emperor that when the country was in crisis and the emperor fled, King Yong should supervise the country.
"My lord, I dare not accept the order."
However, facing such tempting power, Xue Bai's first reaction was to refuse.
In front of Lu Jiong, Lai Qi, Wei Zhi and others, he took two steps back, bowed his head and said: "I only want peace in the world, peace and prosperity for the country and the people, and then I will be satisfied. The power is not what I want, but what I want is only
The breeze on the river, the bright moon in the mountains, just traveling around the motherland."
Among the crowd behind him, Li Bai smiled silently after hearing this, waved his sleeves, and went to drink in the bamboo forest, not bothering to watch this hypocritical struggle for power.
The attitude of those who are bold and uninhibited and despise the powerful is like this, but the reaction of those who pay attention to honor and integrity and have a clan in mind is completely different. They all stepped forward to ask Xue Bai to accept the order.
"At this time of critical survival, it is inappropriate for King Yong to shirk any more."
Xue Bai was still pushing back, saying: "Since ancient times, we have heard of princes supervising the country, but how have we ever heard of princes supervising the country?"
"This...the prince is not in the court."
Everyone responded vaguely, becoming more and more certain that this was Xue Baibu's fault.
They all recalled Guo Suo's shout just now in their minds, which persisted for a long time.
"Your Highness! Your Highness..."
~~
"I have met His Highness!"
Zhou Zhiguang walked into the room and saluted, and when he looked around, he saw a childish face illuminated by candlelight.
"General Zhou, there is no need to be polite."
Li Qiu was a little nervous, his hands clenched fists unconsciously, and his shoulders hunched up slightly.
He was still organizing his words, but he didn't realize that this gesture had conveyed the fact that his aura was not strong, and it fell into Zhou Zhiguang's eyes, making Zhou Zhiguang feel contemptuous.
The reason why he met Zhou Zhiguang was because Zhou Zhiguang gave him a gift, a very splendid horse.
There are huge differences between different horses, which can be said to be greater than the differences between horses and people. A horse can gallop out with just a light kick, fast and steady, while a horse can gallop out without a whip.
, and could only jog leisurely. This time, Li Qiu escaped from Chang'an in a hurry. The horse he was riding was given to him by the Forbidden Army. The situation was tense recently, and no one bothered to change it for him. Zhou Zhiguang's gift was
Very considerate.
Not only did he send horses, Zhou Zhiguang also sent grooms to take care of them. Therefore, Li Qiu's horses were treated well and the fodder they ate was much better than what ordinary people could chew.
Of course, Li Qiu was so kind and generous because Zhou Zhiguang wanted to join him.
He was very nervous, considering whether to reveal his intention to get rid of Dou Wenyang... Before he could speak, Zhou Zhiguang spoke first.
"Your Highness, I have received news that Guo Ziyi has recovered Chang'an."
"When did it happen?" Li Qiu was greatly surprised. "Then can we go back to Beijing?"
"I sent someone to spy on Guo Ziyi's army, so I got this information." Zhou Zhiguang said, "But Guo Ziyi didn't welcome the saint back to Chang'an. I'm afraid he had different intentions."
"No." Li Qiu said quickly: "Guo Gong is loyal..."
"Excuse me for my humble opinion, I'm afraid Guo Ziyi just wants to make King Yong the crown prince." Zhou Zhiguang interrupted Li Qiu.
"What? How could it happen?"
"There are rumors in Chang'an that the Supreme Emperor and all the officials are asking Yong Wang to supervise the country in the name of the emperor's absence. But since ancient times, has there been any reason for the emperor's nephew to supervise the country? This is to replace His Highness as the crown prince. Now the saint will not make a statement
, I have never told His Highness about this matter, so I must have been shaken in my heart."
Li Qiu was shocked and asked hurriedly: "Then what should I do?"
"What should I do, Your Highness?" Zhou Zhiguang repeated deliberately, as if he was thinking about Li Qiu at this time, and said in deep thought: "If I can replace Guo Ziyi and lead the army, I will kill King Yong, drive away King Yong, and welcome the saint and His Highness.
Return to court."
"But Mr. Guo..."
"If Your Highness does not trust me but still trusts Guo Ziyi, I will resign immediately!"
"General Zhou, wait a minute." Li Qiu quickly stopped him and asked, "How can I help you take over Guo Ziyi's position?"
"Dou Guigong stated his interests in front of the saint. But if the saint summons your highness, he will only ask your highness to state clearly that Guo Ziyi once encouraged your highness to mutiny. After your highness refused, he turned to King Yong."
"Isn't this a lie?!" Li Qiu was shocked.
A while ago, he wanted to contact Guo Ziyi and get rid of Dou Wenyang, the traitor. Unexpectedly, in just a few days, he was forced to help Dou Wenyang's party and remove Guo Ziyi from the position of commander-in-chief.
The world was so absurd that as an untrained young man, he didn't know how to face it.
Li Qiu finally no longer thought that Zhou Zhiguang was here to seek refuge with him, but that this general was here to take advantage of him, the dignified crown prince of a country.
"I am willing to protect Your Highness with my life!"
Zhou Zhiguang suddenly loudened his voice, revealing his domineering attitude.
"And I only need a decree. Why is Your Highness unwilling to ask for such a trivial matter for me?!"
"I……"
Li Qiu was filled with fear and pain. When he raised his head, he was stunned for a moment when he saw Zhou Zhiguang's domineering and ferocious face, and finally gave in.
"well."
It has to be said that Dou Wenyang knew the emperor Li Cong very well, and the method he came up with was the best way to remove Guo Ziyi.
After all, how could Li Cong have imagined that Li Qiu could help Dou Wenyang frame Guo Ziyi?
On the next day alone, Zhou Zhiguang received the imperial edict to replace Guo Ziyi as the deputy marshal of the Guanzhong army and horses, and led the 20,000 soldiers and horses recently raised to Guo Ziyi's camp by the Weishui Bridge to prepare for the mutiny.
Halfway through the journey, a sentry horse came back from ahead.
"Report! Guo Ziyi sent his cavalry to capture King Yong and is now escorting him back to the camp."
Zhou Zhiguang frowned and spat: "Let him accomplish another feat."
After a moment, he realized that the scope of the sentinel's activities was not far away, and this place was not close to Guo Ziyi's camp, and asked: "Where is King Yong now?"
"It's in Yishou County in the south."
This incident was an unexpected surprise to Zhou Zhiguang. He immediately pulled the reins and shouted: "Let's go! Follow me to put an end to King Yong's rebellion first!"