In the evening, a few plumes of smoke rose from the military camp, and the soldiers lined up to receive their daily rations.
The one with the best treatment was Tian Shengong's personal barracks. There were more than a hundred people in total, all elites selected from the army. Everyone was fed with steamed cakes and had meat for every meal.
The noisy sound spread to the big tent. Tian Shenyu, who had slept all afternoon, stood up, walked outside the door, chatted with the soldiers for a few words, then went to find Tian Shengong with a piece of cake in his mouth.
"Brother, I heard that Du Wulang has come, why don't you wake me up and meet him?"
"What did you do to see him?"
Tian Shengong was practicing calligraphy, standing calmly and calmly in front of the desk, quite like everyone else.
Although he was stationed in the camp, he also brought a lot of newspapers with him. He wrote his smooth calligraphy on the old newspapers and copied from a copybook called "Yongwang Collection of Sentences".
This copybook was made by some businessmen to imitate Xue Bai's handwriting based on the rubbings circulated in the market. Among them is the song "Nian Nujiao", which is a version more than a year ago. Tian Shengong has perfected the calligraphy and has a certain charm.
"Brother, what's the use of practicing calligraphy all day long?" Tian Shenyu glanced at him and said, "Wu Lang is an old acquaintance of ours and a close friend of His Highness. I didn't come out to meet him when he came. How rude."
"Don't be afraid of being rude. I'm afraid that you will be careless in what you say all day long and make a mistake."
Tian Shenyu said disapprovingly: "His Highness must have believed in us when he sent Wu Lang here."
Just as he was talking, some soldiers rushed to the big tent and reported: "General, Du Wulang is here again."
Tian Shengong then put down his pen, frowned slightly, then turned to Tian Shenyu and said, "Go and lie down."
"Why?"
"I said you fell while riding a horse."
"Do we have to do this?" Tian Shenyu had never realized the seriousness of the matter before. Looking at Tian Shengong's increasingly gloomy face, she couldn't help but angrily said: "There are many people in the army who do that!"
"Go and lie down first."
"Why are they only targeting us? Are they not burning, killing, robbing, and taking credit for their crimes? They are just because they think our brothers are of low origin, or they are targeting us to deal with His Highness!"
"That's enough." Tian Shengong said, "I'll let you avoid it and I'll handle it myself."
"How else to deal with it? It's better to tell His Highness earlier." Tian Shenyu grinned, "I don't believe that His Highness can leave us at this time."
"roll!"
Tian Shenyu was shouted at, then turned around and walked out, cursing and saying: "Everyone is pretending, military discipline is strict, and they are diligent and frugal. Who the hell doesn't go through life and death just to be a master?"
On the way back to his tent, he met a soldier who was close to him.
"General, when will you take us to Pingkangfang to learn more? We have accumulated so much treasure and it will not be enough if we don't spend it."
"Why are you so anxious?" Tian Shenyu grabbed the other party's collar and scolded: "When the big things are done, you will be happy."
"A soldier who licks blood with his sword is afraid that his life will be lost but his money will still be there."
"The days of progress are still behind, waiting."
Tian Shenyu then let go of his hand and returned to his tent.
In the tent, a fair-skinned and beautiful woman was squatting in front of a large box. The box was open and filled with gold and jade jewelry.
This was what Tian Shenyu originally wanted to offer to Xue Bai, but Tian Shengong refused to let it go.
At this time, the torch was lit, and the jewels in the box reflected the beauty's face. Tian Shenyu felt proud and satisfied when she saw this scene.
"The general is back."
"come over."
Tian Shenyu took off his armor and took off a worn military robe, revealing the smooth silk underneath.
In Jiannan, he always wore gold and silver generously, but this time when he returned to Chang'an, Tian Shengong said that His Highness advocated frugality and asked him to pay special attention to it.
In fact, he didn't quite understand this. He didn't understand His Highness, let alone his brother.
He opened his silk spring shirt, revealing his burly body covered with scars.
~~
The night is getting dark.
Du Wulang told Tian Shengong that on his way back to Chang'an from Bashang, he had to relieve himself in the woods. It took too long, so he could not make it back to Chang'an, so he returned to the camp to stay overnight.
At night, he stood up and walked out.
Outside the tent, there were two soldiers standing guard by the bonfire. Du Wulang waved to them and said, "I'll put some water in."
"there."
Tian Shengong set up his camp in a very orderly manner. He ordered people to dig several large pits and lay them with wooden boards as toilet areas to avoid the plague.
Du Wulang looked up for a while, feeling very embarrassed and said: "It's so dark, come with me."
"Here."
"I really admire General Tian, he is the benefactor of my family."
Du Wulang talked a lot along the way, and finally asked: "Were you under General Tian during the battle to regain Dangou City?"
"exist."
"Then you also went after the Tibetan army?"
"No, we besieged the south gate of Dangou City. We spent every day digging and shooting arrows. The general only brought his own battalion to pursue the Tibetan army."
"I'm sorry to hear your tone, but did you miss the opportunity to make a contribution?"
When Du Wulang asked, the soldier suddenly became a little nervous and quickly denied it, saying: "The villain has no regrets, he just wants to kill the enemy and perform meritorious service."
"Oh, I heard that General Tian Shenyu led his troops to inspect the terrain yesterday, but he hasn't come back today. He went to that... Sanguan Temple, right?"
"yes."
Du Wulang didn't ask any more questions. On the way back, he took the wrong path several times and wanted to take a look at each camp. In the end, he was stopped by the soldier and sent back to the tent.
After lying down again, he rested his head on his hands. After much thought, he still couldn't confirm, so he stood up again and looked outside. He saw that there was still a fire in Tian Shengong's tent in the distance, but he didn't know that Tian Shengong was at this moment.
What is being done.
~~
Tian Shengong is meeting an uninvited guest.
She was a charming and pitiful woman who also brought a child. She was crying and talking, as if she would not give up unless she could arouse Tian Shengong's compassion.
"In the early years, the general shared adversity with him and saved his life several times. How does he repay you now? The general is probably still thinking that he can rise to the top by relying on his old friendship, but I tell the general, stop having such wishful thinking.
Now, this road is completely deadlocked for you. He has a heart of stone. From the moment you go against his will and hide from him several times, he will definitely kill you."
Tian Shengong did not answer, but sat there and listened patiently.
The woman's voice was very nice and didn't seem to make him tired of it at all.
"It is not enough for a person to have only one noble person in his life. If a general is determined to make progress, it is not enough for him to just climb one level. He can only let the general display so much talent. No matter what you do in the future, it will be just the icing on the cake for him.
.Oh, he also thinks you are plundering and not obeying Li Guangbi's military laws. In his eyes, you will never be as good as Li Guangbi."
"What about you?" Tian Shengong said, "You look down on me even more."
"I respect the general's majesty, how dare I look down on him? I am just a weak woman, and this child is still young. If the general is willing to help, who can our mother and son rely on in the future besides the general?"
This sentence is the most crucial. Although Tian Shengong's expression did not change, his eyes immediately changed.
His eyes fell on the full part of the woman's skirt at an inappropriate time, showing some greed.
In fact, she is not too young anymore, she is already a mother, but she is still very beautiful, just when her charm is at its peak.
Tian Shengong has seen countless people over the years, and he will take possession of anyone he likes. But at this moment, in front of this woman, although his eyes were looking down, he was looking up to her in his heart.
He was too humble, with a lowly background, and she was too noble. A noble woman made a weak request in front of him, which tickled his heart.
One can imagine how happy it would be for the mother and son to see how he behaves in the future when he has power over the entire government.
Of course it is much more comfortable than relying on a strong and harsh monarch.
However, Tian Shengong swallowed his saliva and restrained himself, saying: "I have only a few soldiers, so I cannot rely on you."
"The general has extraordinary skills. In today's Chang'an City, the general is the one who can really decide the general situation by force. The saint is about to die. This is the last chance. This time, the general can see how powerful the power is against him."
Tian Shengong knew what she meant, his eyes flickered, and he began to think.
Now almost all the soldiers and horses in Guanzhong are controlled by Tubo. His soldiers and horses can indeed play a decisive role.
He was not in a hurry to respond and waited for the price.
The woman waited for a long time but saw no response from him, so she said: "Perhaps, the general can capture our mother and son and present them to him to repay his merits. Let's see how much reward he can give the general."
Tian Shengong stared at her plump figure and finally said: "What can you give me?"
"If the general can turn the tide, he will have the kindness to rebuild the Tang Dynasty, and he deserves to be called 'Father-in-Chief' by my son."
As she spoke, the woman gently stroked the back of her son's head. The child was also sensible and obediently crossed his hands and saluted, calling: "Father Zhong."
At this moment, Tian Shengong felt incredible. He felt that this was too ridiculous because he didn't deserve it.
Not only is he humble, but his official position is not high yet. How can he be worthy of being called "Father" by a royal nobleman?
~~
At dawn, the palace door slowly opened.
Du Si and Du Jin spent the night in Shaoyang Courtyard, sitting in the carriage, closing their eyes tiredly to rest.
"Sister." Du Jin suddenly said: "Do you think there are any important ministers in Chang'an City who can avoid my eyes and ears?"
"I guess the emperor's death is not far away, and there are many people who are ready to take action." Du Mei said: "You take yourself too seriously. You always feel that you should know everything and know everything, but you are just now
How long has it been in business? In Chang'an City, the Tang Dynasty royal family has been in business for more than a hundred years, but it is still despised by the family."
"My intelligence covers Chang'an, so there shouldn't be any clues."
Du Wei shook her head and said: "The more arrogant you are, the more dangerous you are."
"What do you want me to do?"
"After we go back, let's sort it out again." Du Mei said, "There must be some traces that we have overlooked."
"Sister, I mean, we have discovered some clues before, but we didn't pay attention to them..."
At this point, a subordinate rode up to the carriage.
"Second sister, something happened."
"explain."
"I followed your instructions and sent people to send Zhang Ting and her son away, but my man died on the way and Zhang Ting and his son disappeared."
When Du Jin heard this, his face turned cold.
Promising Zhang Ting benefits, letting her keep an eye on Li Heng, and then defeating Li Heng and his son's plan to cause trouble by destroying Buddha, helping Xue Bai subdue Yang Yan, and stabilize Chao Gang. This series of events is Du Jin's proud work
.
She did not embarrass Zhang Ting afterwards.
Originally, she thought she was doing this to avenge the past, but when Zhang Ting laughed like crazy and said what Li Heng's expression was when he was divorced, Du Jin felt nothing in her heart. She no longer cared about this.
.
Zhang Ting was still very surprised at that time and asked: "What? I avenged you. I made Li Heng lie down in front of me like a dog and beg me not to divorce."
"Do you know who I usually sleep with?"
Zhang Ting was still smiling at first, but after hearing this, his smile gradually froze, and it began to hurt Du Jin inexplicably, and he said many strange things.
"Do you know? Li Heng has long seen that you are ambitious and asked Li Jingzhong to drug you because he was afraid that you would kill Li Chu one day. But he let me give birth to Ji'er. Am I not ambitious enough? Or...I
Better than you?"
Du Jin asked: "Do you want to die?"
"Are you jealous of me?" Zhang Ting giggled again, as if there was something wrong with her brain.
Du Jin felt that there was no need for him to be in the same league as such a crazy woman, so he ordered his mother and son to be sent away.
Before today, she had never taken Zhang Ting seriously. Even Li Heng and Li Chu had become decadent. What could Zhang Ting do?
But now Zhang Ting has become a person who has escaped her sight and whose identity is crucial.
Du Jin was very angry.
She didn't yell when she was angry. Instead, she became more serious and murmured to herself: "I'm still not cruel enough."
Du Wei said: "What you need is not to be more cruel, but to tolerate yourself from making mistakes."
"It's useless to say this now, just think about where she can go."
As they said this, the two sisters looked at each other and soon thought of where Zhang Ting might have gone.
…
Xue Bai has been busy with state affairs recently and has not paid much attention to the struggle for power.
The war on the Qinlong battlefield became more and more intense, and drought occurred again in Henan. The summer grain that was supposed to be shipped from various places was delayed due to various reasons, and there were also problems with water transportation. As a result, the taxes from the Jianghuai River and the income from Yanyan were stuck in the two Huaihe Rivers.
.
Xue Bai suspected that some state and county officials had done it deliberately. For example, Henan transshipment envoy Li Xian was Li Xian's brother. It was very likely that they had detained the canal in order to stumble him.
Li Cong is about to die, so someone must be unable to hold on.
The only current plan is to send people to investigate, while demolishing the east wall and repairing the west wall to deal with it first.
This left Xue Bai with very few available manpower, and also involved a lot of his attention.
For several days, he was dragged around by officials to discuss matters.
He originally thought that the officials would force him to deal with Tian Shengong, but in the past two days, no one mentioned it again, allowing the matter to ferment.
But the crisis obviously has not been resolved, and the cracks in trust are getting deeper and deeper.
On this day, after a rare breath of rest, Xue Bai heard that the Du sisters had returned. He knew something had happened again, so he rushed back to Shaoyang Courtyard to meet them.
"Zhang Ting?"
"Yes, we suspect that she is hiding in Tian Shen Gong's army."
Xue Bai glanced outside the door and saw no one coming to Baotian Shengong to ask for an audience.
He then pondered and said: "It is not appropriate for me to send people to his army to ask for people."
"Send someone to check?"
Xue Bai took a few steps and did not immediately send someone to check Tian Shengong. The trust between the two parties was very fragile at the moment, and any slight disturbance could break it.
"Secretly summon Lao Liang, Jiang Hai returns to the capital. You don't need to bring too many troops, but you have to be quick."
For this matter, Xue Bai did not use the official post horse, but wrote a personal letter, stamped it with a private seal, and asked Du Jin to send it secretly.
Du Jin took it and asked, "What should I do with Tian Shengong?"
"I can't wait until the court officials force me to deal with him. I have to make a decision before them." Xue Bai said: "Wait until Wu Lang and Diao Bing come back to see if Tian Shengong has anything to say to me."
After the Du sisters left, Xue Bai returned to the Xuanzheng Hall, thought about it, and summoned Guo Qianli to see him.
Xue Bai has always appointed Guo Qianli as the general of the Longwu Army, which is a very important position. Logically speaking, he should replace him with a more trustworthy confidant, but instead he thinks that Guo Qianli is very stable.
Others see Guo Qianli as careless and careless, which has nothing to do with stability. But what Xue Bai thinks is stability is that Guo Qianli never completely leans towards anyone. As a Forbidden Army, the principle is that whoever is the emperor listens to whoever is the emperor and does not participate in anything.
I am really not interested in the battle for the throne.
After the three common people case occurred, Li Longji did not kill Guo Qianli. Xue Bai did not understand at the time. But when Xue Bai was at the height of his power, Guo Qianli never came to express his loyalty.
With this kind of mentality, it is not easy to be instigated.
Moreover, most of the soldiers of the Forbidden Army followed Xue Bai to guard Chang'an, and basically could not cause a big chaos.
From this aspect, they are more reliable than Tian Shengong's troops.
However, after waiting for a long time, Xue Bai received a piece of news that surprised him.
"Your Highness, General Guo has been assassinated!"
The news came too suddenly. Others would have been caught off guard or become angry. However, Xue Bai remained calm and asked first: "How is he? Is he dead?"
"Not dead, but seriously injured."
"Tell me slowly, what happened?"
"Today, General Guo Xiu Mu took his granddaughter to watch a play in the theater in Dongshi. He went out incognito and brought six followers with him. After watching the play, he encountered a Uighur businessman arguing with someone on the road, so he ordered someone to go there.
Check what happened. The crowd was in chaos, and suddenly someone stabbed General Guo with a dagger. He was holding his granddaughter, but before he had time to avoid it, he was hit. He grabbed the opponent's wrist and broke it. He was still alive. Later, his followers came to kill him.
, the murderer committed suicide when he saw that the assassination failed."
Xue Bai asked for more details, but the clues were gone.
What is certain now is that Guo Qianli will definitely not be able to preside over the situation in Beiya for the time being, and someone needs to take his place temporarily.
Xue Bai needs to select someone who he can absolutely trust, who has enough ability and enough prestige to lead the imperial army in the shortest possible time, and it is best if this person is not far from the capital.
He had to arrange this before Li Cong died.
At this point, Xue Bai knew that there was no need to waste time to find out the truth. The time left for him was only enough for him to complete the deployment of troops and ensure that he could successfully ascend the throne as soon as Li Cong died.
If you ascend the throne, you win, otherwise you lose, and nothing else matters.
Whether the main messenger behind the conspiracy is Li Longji or not, he must control Daming Palace and Taiji Palace. He must be able to learn the news of Li Cong's death as soon as possible and control Li Longji.
Sometimes he would also consider whether he could get rid of Li Cong without anyone noticing. But when he thought that Dazhalu Gong was in Qinlong, and there was a possibility of entering Guanzhong at any time, Li Cong would have the advantage of living one more day.
.
~~
Chunmingmen.
Just as Du Wulang entered Chang'an City, a group of government servants suddenly came up to him and asked, "Is this Wulang from Prime Minister Du's family?"
"What's the matter?" Diao Bing asked in a deep voice.
Du Wulang quickly signaled to Diao Bing with his eyes that they were pretending to be Taoist priests. Don't reveal their identity and let people know that His Highness is protecting Tian Shengong.
Then, the visitor said: "Today, General Longwu Army was assassinated in Dongshi Theater. Jingzhao Mansion would like to ask Wu Lang to ask a few words, please."
"Guo Qianli?!" Du Wulang said in surprise: "How is he?"
"Don't worry, Wulang, he is still alive. But this case is of great importance, and Wulang needs to cooperate."
Of course, Du Wulang also knew what it meant when a general of the imperial army suddenly got into trouble when the emperor's deadline was approaching, so he quickly said to Diao Bing: "Go back quickly to protect His Highness, and I will go find out what happened."
The current situation in Chang'an City seems to be inseparable from him.
Diao Bing was concerned about the situation in the palace. He knew that Du Wulang was now a close friend of the prince and the son of the prime minister. No one dared to embarrass him, and he had many followers and guards around him. So he nodded and hurried back to the palace first.
Here, Du Wulang took a careful look at the person coming and said, "I often go to Jingzhao Mansion, why haven't I seen you?"
"This is Xiaguan's talisman, and this is an official document from Jingzhao Mansion. It has been more than two years since Xiaguan was promoted to Jingzhao Dacao, and he has never had the honor to deal with Wulang."
"If you don't tell me, I've forgotten that I haven't been caught much in two years."
Du Wulang glanced at the talisman and said, "Your name is Wu Minu? That's polite."
"Goro, you're welcome."
Everyone then went to Jingzhao Mansion.
Du Wulang asked: "Last time I went to Jingzhao Mansion to take away a young monk, but I didn't see you."
"That case was not handled by a subordinate."
"Why?"
Wu Minu didn't answer this question until he entered Jingzhao Mansion and said he wanted to take Du Wulang for questioning. He took out the documents again.
"This is... Li Shaoyin's seal?"
"yes."
Du Wulang didn't know what the difference was between Li Shaoyin's and Yang Jingyin's approval documents. He looked around and greeted some familiar people, and arranged for his entourage to drink tea and wait in the front yard. He followed Wu Minato through the corridor and entered a public room.
.
"Ask."
Wu Minao asked: "At the beginning, the actors in the Jiaofang opened a theater and sang under the arrangement of Wu Lang?"
"yes."
"This is the murderer, can Wu Lang recognize it?" Wu Minato picked up a portrait.
"I don't recognize it."
Du Wulang shook his head and said: "Although there are barbarian musicians in the theater, I have no impression of them, at least they can't be seen in the portraits. You can show me the corpse."
"No need." Wu Minao said, "The body is somewhere else."
"Won't you take me there?"
Wu Min said: "There is another case. The wife and children of a family in Beijing are missing. Some people say that they were taken away by servants of the Du family."
Du Wulang was surprised: "Is there such a thing? There is such an evil slave in my family?!"
Wu Minato picked up the two portraits again and asked, "Has Wu Lang seen them?"
Du Wulang took a closer look, was stunned for a moment, rubbed his eyes, hesitated, and said slowly: "Isn't this Mrs. Zhang of Prince Zhong?"
"It seems that Wulang has seen her."
"What do you mean?" Du Wulang asked: "You...don't want to deal with me, right?"
He couldn't believe it.
After all, things are different now. In the past, he could be severely bullied by the son of Jingzhao Facao, but now his status is far beyond that of Jingzhao Facao.
"Investigating the case." Wu Minao looked upright and said, "Everyone in the market said that Wu Lang raped civilian girls. I didn't believe it at first. But now there are women and children missing. Although my official position is small, I still have to find out."
Seeing that he was so righteous, Du Wulang was extremely angry and uttered a sentence that only the evil young man Ji Xiang could say.