At night, the stars hang low in the sky, as if you can reach out and pick them.
Li Qiwu was sleeping deeply when he was suddenly woken up by someone. When he opened his eyes, he saw that it was Lang Ruozan.
"Wake up, princess, I want to see you."
Before coming, Li Qiwu had heard from Yan Quanming about the Tubo Princess Nalanzhen. She was once a prisoner during His Majesty's expedition to Nanzhao. Now she is the eldest princess in Tubo who advocates Zanpu's pro-government and allied with the Tang Dynasty. She is considered to have some influence.
.
"Where is the princess?"
"Jokhang Temple."
"Where is that?"
"More than a hundred years ago, the King of Tibet married Princess Chizun. The princess's dowry included a life-size statue of Sakyamuni when he was eight years old. The temple was built with goats carrying earth, so it was named 'Rasa'. This is also
The name of our royal capital, you Han people like to call it the Jokhang Temple."
Li Qiwu said: "It's still so dark. Are we setting out now, are we afraid of being discovered?"
Lang Jie praised: "This is far away from the Jokhang Temple, and only there is close to the Hongshan Palace."
Li Qiwu looked back and saw that the Zama Zhisang Palace behind them was just a temporary palace, and Chisong Dezan was now far away from the center of power.
They disguised themselves as ordinary peasants and left quietly. After walking for two days, they entered the royal capital, where the defense was much tighter.
After arriving at the magnificent Hongshan Palace, they waited until night before someone came to take them to the Jokhang Temple.
Along the way, Li Qiwu had heard that this was a Buddhist holy place in Tubo. When he arrived, it looked really majestic and majestic from the outside. However, when he stepped into the small door, he was hit by the smell of blood.
There were no monks in the temple, and the further we walked inside, the more eerie it became.
After walking around the bell tower, he saw that a large bell had fallen to the ground. Li Qiwu saw that there seemed to be inscriptions on the bell, and touched it with his hand. He felt sticky after that, and when he shined a torch, he saw blood stains.
"What's this?"
"Stop looking and let's go."
They walked to a small door and led passers-by to knock on the door. Li Qiwu stood aside and waited. Suddenly he felt something stepped on. He leaned over to pick it up and took a look. His pupils were shocked and his expression changed with horror.
It was a bone with flesh and blood removed from it.
The area scraped by the bone scraper showed a white color under the light of the fire, making the flesh and blood next to it even more red.
"vomit."
Li Qiwu quickly threw away the bones in his hand, looked up, and saw that the basket next to the small door was full of bones like this. As soon as he threw it away, an eyeball fell down and rolled to his feet.
Since he entered Tubo, he had been out of breath and dizzy all day long. After being frightened, he finally rolled his eyes and fainted.
He didn't know how long he had been unconscious. When he woke up again, Li Qiwu found that he seemed to be in a Buddhist temple.
But there was no Buddha statue in the hall, only a huge chopping board filled with flesh and skin, and a row of iron hooks on the shelf above, with corpses hanging precariously on the hooks.
This was so startling that Li Qiwu quickly stood up and tried to run away, but bumped into something. A round object rolled down from the chopping board. It looked like a head in the dim light.
"ah."
He fell to the ground and thought of Chang'an, feeling extremely missed. This trip to Tubo had taken him more than half a year. It was windy, frosty, snowy and rainy, not to mention hard work, but what he got after the hard work was this hellish thing.
frightened.
With a "squeak" sound, the door was pushed open.
Li Qiwu turned around and saw a woman about twenty years old standing there.
The moon also came out of the clouds and shone on her face. She could not be called very beautiful. Her skin was a little dark and her figure was thin. Only her eyes were very bright, with a firm and intelligent gaze, which made people feel her beauty at first sight.
Extraordinary.
"You... don't kill me!" Li Qiwu couldn't help but cry.
"Is this the envoy of the Tang court? Xue Bai's taste in employing people is getting worse and worse."
Hearing the name "Xue Bai", Li Qiwu actually felt a little warm. In fact, few people call the old name of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty nowadays, and the process of the old name gradually not being mentioned is accompanied by the collapse of Tianbao's prosperous era.
.
When His Majesty was named Xue Bai, he was not so scary, and the Tang Dynasty was prospering with singing and dancing.
"How dare you mention His Majesty's name? No, no, are you His Majesty's old friend?"
"I am his disciple." The woman said.
Someone behind her took a step forward and said, "This is the Princess of Tubo."
The light of the torch illuminated the chopping board in the Buddhist hall, and I saw that the meat on it was beef and mutton. As for the round head on the ground, it was actually from the Buddha statue.
Li Qiwu was still in shock, but now he felt less scared.
"I didn't mean to scare you." Nalanzhen said, "It's just that it's safer here."
She entered the Buddhist temple full of flesh and blood, looked around and said, "This was originally a holy land, but now it has become a slaughterhouse. Do you know why?"
"Why?"
"This is all done by Ma Xiangzhong Bajie." Nalanzhen said: "He is my father's maternal clan. Since my father's death, he has been in charge of the country. In order to maintain power, he deliberately overthrew my father's government.
achievements, and want to destroy Buddhism."
When she was speaking, Li Qiwu glanced behind her and saw Lang Jiezan, Ye Butong and many Han monks there.
It seems that the Tang Dynasty's extermination of Buddhism led to many eminent monks entering Tubo, and some of them became Nalanzhen's helpers.
"How did you get this letter?"
Li Qiwu said: "I stole it from Dazhalu Gong's tent."
Nalanzhen asked: "Did you take it with your own hands?"
"yes."
"Has there been any reply from Dazalu Gong?"
"Yes, but I didn't get it." Li Qiwu said: "When I entered his tent, the reply letter had already been sent away. But I knew that he must have expressed his willingness to help Ma Xiang."
Nalanzhen said: "How do you know?"
Li Qiwu said: "Because I borrowed troops from him, he once asked me whether Datang would support him in establishing a new Zanpu."
He finally gradually remembered his mission here, and said: "The Tang Dynasty has defeated Dazhalu Gong. He lost far more soldiers and horses than what was reported to you. I'm afraid you still don't know, right? Now
This is the best time to deal with Ma Xiang, because Dazalu Gong will definitely not be able to help him anymore."
Nalanzhen stared at Li Qiwu with a scrutinizing gaze for a while, then sneered: "You want to instigate civil strife in Tubo?"
"I don't."
"I guessed it, but it doesn't matter." Nalanzhen said, "Even without this letter, I would still get rid of Ma Xiang."
Li Qiwu said: "I am here because when Zanpu takes office, I can bring back the credentials of the alliance between Tubo and the Tang Dynasty."
"Don't worry, the credentials will be given to you." Nalanzhen said, "I'm coming tonight and have prepared a plan to get rid of Ma Xiang, but I still need your cooperation."
Li Qiwu had no choice but to ask: "What should I do?"
Nalanzhen said: "This time, the Tang army defeated Dazalu Gong, and Ma Xiang also intends to temporarily suspend the army. He will definitely have peace talks with you."
"yes."
Li Qiwu pointed at Lang Jiezan and Ye Butong and said: "We are separated from the mission and will rush to see Zanpu first. The mission will officially enter the royal capital three days later."
"I know." Nalanzhen said: "Ma Xiang will meet you at Hongshan Palace, and we plan to take the opportunity to get rid of him."
When Li Qiwu heard this, he felt worried and said: "Then I am also present, will it be dangerous?"
"No." Nalanzhen said, "You just need to give this to him."
It was an oval agate stone with some clear black and white patterns on it, as if there were nine eyes watching the world, which made Li Qiwu's scalp numb.
He could feel that this stone seemed to have some kind of divinity.
"What's this?"
"Dzi beads." Nalan Zhen said: "It is said that the holy objects of Bon religion are ornaments worn by gods. Whenever the beads are broken or slightly damaged, the gods will throw them into the world. You only need to give this dzi bead to
Ma Xiang, he will personally deliver it to the shrine for worship. The Bon shrine is on the Red Mountain, dug into a cave, with a stone door outside."
"Then what?"
Nalanzhen said: "I bought gunpowder on the black market in Chang'an and bribed a great wizard of the Bon religion. As soon as Ma Xiang entered the cave, I trapped him to death. Others just thought he died as a punishment from heaven."
Li Qiwu asked again: "It's not difficult to kill someone, but what's difficult is how can you deal with it after he dies?"
Nalanzhen stood up and walked around the Buddhist temple, watching the former holy land become a slaughterhouse today.
"Did you know? The statue of Sakyamuni is hidden in the mud two feet deep under our feet. It will inevitably be dug out again one day. Just like the anger in the hearts of the Tubo people now, what Ma Xiang did
I have been preparing for too long to get rid of him because of my anger."
Li Qiwu looked at the woman in front of him and felt her surging ambition, which gave him a vague sense of familiarity.
A slight sneer appeared at the corner of her mouth, and she added: "Your Majesty taught me these means of fighting for power. Once I get rid of the traitorous ministers, Tubo will be friendly with the Tang Dynasty for generations."
~~
"If someone easily makes a promise to you that is obviously impossible, they are probably lying."
In Chang'an City, Xue Bai took a letter and read it, and said this.
The letter was written by Da Zha Lugong. After suffering a defeat, he expressed his willingness to return the occupied Helong areas so that Datang could resume communication with the four towns of Anxi. The premise was that Guo Ziyi needed to go to Shanzhou in person to form an alliance with him.
Guo Ziyi also showed up and said she was willing to go.
In this regard, Du Youlin felt that since Guo Ziyi was willing to go, it showed that this matter was feasible. However, Xue Bai did not agree, which made him quite confused.
Xue Bai didn't believe in Dazalu Gong's sincerity.
He really wants to get the Hexi Corridor back as soon as possible, but the more he does so, the more likely he is to be deceived.
For such a big matter as the return of Helong, Dazalu Gong couldn't make the decision, so he had to send someone back to the capital to report the matter. But it had only been half a year, and there was not enough time for his messenger to go back and forth, so it must be a lie.
"As for Guo Ziyi's statement, he had to do it with a knife on his neck." Xue Bai said: "He was held hostage by Dazalu Gong. I am worried that if he refuses to go, I will doubt his loyalty."
Du Youlin couldn't help but wonder, "If that's the case, why did Dazalu Gong do this?"
"Or do you want to seduce and get rid of Guo Ziyi?"
"But he had just been defeated, and it was supposed to be a time for him to recuperate. How could he get into trouble again so soon?"
When Du Youlin asked this question, Xue Bai also became confused.
He spread out the map and looked at it for a long time, and suddenly an answer came to his mind.
Could it be that Feng Changqing has returned to Anxi?
Therefore, Dazalu Gong was worried about being attacked on both fronts, so he wanted to try his best to get rid of Guo Ziyi.
If this is the case, the imperial court must do something to relieve Anxi from the pressure from Tubo.
Xue Bai thought that the envoy he sent should arrive in Tubo, but he wondered if it had incited civil strife in Tubo?
~~
At the same time, the towering Hongshan Palace towers into the sky.
Ma Xiang was discussing with his ministers how to welcome the envoy from the Tang Dynasty. Suddenly, a confidant rushed over and whispered in his ear: "Da Lun, someone asked to see you. He said that it is related to Da Lun's life."
At first, Ma Xiang didn't believe it and didn't want to pay attention to it, but in the end he still had a thought and said: "Take it to me behind."
He got up and walked to the back hall, where he saw a man kneeling on the ground timidly.
"You said someone wants to harm me?"
"Yes, Yixi Wangbo, who is close to Zampu, contacted the eldest princess Nalanzhen a few days ago and agreed to get rid of Dalu."
Ma Xiang didn't believe it and sneered, "Can that little girl achieve anything?"
"The eldest princess has already thought of a plan. She will be trapped to death when Da Lun receives the Dzi beads and enshrines them in the temple..."
After hearing this, Ma Xiang was finally moved.
~~
Two days later, Li Qiwu arrived at the royal capital again.
He secretly left the city, returned to the mission, put on his official robe, and entered the Hongshan Palace openly and openly.
Here, he met Ma Xiangzhong Bajie, a great Tubo scholar known as his "uncle".
Ma Xiang is almost seventy years old this year. He looks like a goat and is the leading goat. In this city whose names are all named after goats, he has a very high status and his ostentation is much greater than that of Zamp.
.
Thanks to Chidai Danzhu being a wise king, Trisong Dezan had many supporters as soon as he came to the throne, and Ma Xiang's age also made it difficult for him to slowly weaken the royal family's reputation. So Ma Xiang chose the most powerful person.
Radical method to seize power through religious struggle.
In Li Qiwu's view, although Ma Xiang is powerful now, he is bound to fail.
Because the people of Tubo are not in his heart.
However, they still had a great time talking about art, music, painting, tea ceremony, and polo, all of which were Li Qiwu's favorite things.
Afterwards, Li Qiwu presented the gifts he had brought. Everything else was written on the gift list, except for a box that was taken out of his sleeve.
"This gem must be seen by Da Lun in person."
With that said, Li Qiwu opened the box.
Everyone around was immediately amazed.
"Is it a Dzi bead? It's actually a Dzi bead?"
Li Qiwu had only heard Na Lanzhen say before that he could not feel the admiration of the people for the Dzi Beads. Now when he saw everyone standing up, he realized that this thing was valuable.
But he didn't notice that Ma Xiang's eyes changed slightly when he saw the Dzi Bead.
"This is a sacred object. Thank you very much, Li Shaoqing." Ma Xiang bowed deeply and asked, "Can I send this sacred object to the altar?"
Li Qiwu said quickly: "Since it was donated to Da Lun, it should be handled by Da Lun."
At this point, he felt that Nalanzhen's plan was half successful.
Before dawn the next day, Ma Xiang dressed up, put on a tall and pointed hat, held the dzi beads himself, and followed a group of wizards to the Red Mountain.
Li Qiwu was also treated as a distinguished guest, accompanying the team and watching the Bon sacrifices curiously.
After the sacrifice, Ma Xiang muttered something, held the Dzi beads, and turned around to enter the divine cave.
Li Qiwu stretched his neck, waiting for something to happen. He eagerly wanted to complete his errand and return to Chang'an.
This round trip will take more than a year, and with all kinds of hard work, I am afraid that his life will be shortened by more than three to five years, and it will be time for him to enjoy wealth by then.
"boom."
Finally, the sacred cave in front shook, and the rocks collapsed, blocking the entrance of the cave.
"What's going on?"
"It's divine punishment!"
"The big talk violates divine punishment and is a sinner of the Bon religion!"
Many people shouted loudly, scaring those Ma Xiang supporters from going forward to rescue him.
It's done.
Li Qiwu felt pitiful that the old man was going to be trapped alive in the cave, but he could finally return to Chang'an...Suddenly, something happened.
"Get them!"
"kill!"
All of a sudden, a group of Tibetan warriors appeared out of nowhere, holding swords and rushing towards those who were shouting and accusing Ma Xiang of his crimes.
Li Qiwu turned around and looked frightened again.
When he saw Ma Xiang standing in front of him, he suddenly felt his scalp numb and murmured to himself: "Isn't this man trapped in a divine cave?"
Warm blood splashed all over his face.
The surrounding area once again became a slaughterhouse, but this time, people were being slaughtered one by one.
Then, some soldiers looked at Li Qiwu, Lang Jiezan and other envoys.
"Don't kill them."
Suddenly someone stood in front of them, holding a command talisman, and shouted to stop the soldiers.
"This is a token of great debate, why don't you back down?!"
This person's figure is small, but at this moment his momentum is greater than that of Li Qiwu. It is Ye Butong.
Looking at the token in his hand, Li Qiwu couldn't help but think, this guy couldn't have betrayed Na Lanzhen's plan, right?
Raise an unfamiliar white-eyed wolf.
Ma Xiang walked slowly into the pool of blood, without even looking at the corpse on the ground. He just said: "The rebels are the eldest princess Nalanzhen and Yixi Wangbo. Go and capture them all."
"yes!"
It is conceivable that countless unjust cases will brew in the capital city, and Ma Xiang will definitely use this opportunity to eliminate dissidents and eliminate the forces that support Trisong Detsen.
He looked at Li Qiwu and walked over.
Ye Butong blocked it with both hands and said: "Da Lun, this matter has nothing to do with the envoys of the Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty only wants to form an alliance with those who really speak out."
Ma Xiang took a deep look at the slave, waved his hand, and asked someone to take him down.
A knife was placed on Li Qiwu's neck again, making him tremble in shock.
Ma Xiang approached Li Qiwu and said, "Did Lord Tang ask you to do this?"
"No, I only want peace talks when I come to Tubo... The Tang Dynasty has defeated Da Zhalu Gong and beheaded tens of thousands. If Tubo does not want the Tang army to cross the Riyue Mountain, it will return the Helong land it occupied. This is what I want
conditions.”
"Where did the Dzi beads come from?"
"After I arrived in Tubo, I was kidnapped by Na Lanzhen's people. She asked me to give this to Da Lun. I didn't know what would happen!"
Ma Xiang's eyes were still filled with murderous intent, and he even grabbed the knife, intending to kill Li Qiwu with one strike, but he still held back.
Today, he seemed to have won, but in fact he still lost. There could have been a more appropriate way to seize power, but now it has reached a situation where both sides have lost, and Tubo's national power has been greatly damaged.
Ma Xiang knew very clearly that all this was deliberately planned by Tang Ting, but there was no evidence.
Tang Ting sent so many cats and dogs here. Lang Jiezan and Ye Butong who participated in the conspiracy were both Tubo people. One had a low-income family and the other was even an inconspicuous slave.
If we tell the world that they manipulated Tubo Zanpu and the prime minister, they will only become a laughing stock.
Moreover, at this time of year, it is not appropriate to continue the war with Tang Ting.
He finally dropped the knife and smiled at Li Qiwu. His old face was as wrinkled as a chrysanthemum, but in reality he was smiling but not smiling at all. He was filled with murderous intent and was particularly scary.
~~
Nalanzhen is in the Hongshan Palace today, overlooking the shrine, waiting for the result.
She was already prepared. As soon as Ma Xiang died, she quickly seized power and issued orders in the name of welcoming Zanpu back.
However, not long after the rumbling sound, one of her confidants came over and said: "Princess, it's bad, Ma Xiang is not dead yet!"
"What's going on? Didn't he enter the divine cave?"
"No, it's false. The news was leaked and he made arrangements in advance."
"Let's go!"
Nalanzhen rushed to the horse as soon as possible, got on the horse and went straight to Zama Zhisang Palace.
She had to rescue Trisong Detsen immediately, so that she could have a chance to lead the tribes to confront Ma Xiang head-on.
However, before she could rush out of the royal capital, a group of people suddenly appeared from both sides and fired a volley of arrows at them.
"Swish swish swish."
The confidants around Nalanzhen fell one after another.
She was so distressed that she whipped her horse harder and harder, and flew out like an arrow.
Arriving all the way to Shannan, she saw flames soaring into the sky from a distance. Nalanzhen was so anxious that she sped forward and saw that the Zama Zhisang Palace was already on fire.
"Damn it!"
She was furious and wanted to kill him, but the troops sent by Ma Xiang had blocked the road to Zama Zhisang Palace, so she could only endure it temporarily to save herself.
Soon, the Hongshan Palace issued an edict to all ministries, saying that the eldest princess colluded with the minister Yeshi Wangbo to cause rebellion, assassinated Ma Xiang, and set fire to Zan Pu. Fortunately, Ma Xiang was blessed by the gods and survived.
A few days later, Ma Xiang appointed Trisong Detsen's cousin Moumang Ruzan as Zanpu and wanted to hunt down Nalanzhen.
~~
During this period, the royal capital was in chaos, conflicts continued to intensify, and everything looked like a slaughterhouse.
Li Qiwu thought he was going to die here and would never be able to return to Chang'an.
However, when Ma Xiang managed to temporarily maintain his power, he actually met Li Qiwu again and expressed his willingness to agree to the court's conditions and form an alliance with the Tang court, but he needed the Tang court to recognize the newly appointed Zanpu.
Li Qiwu then shouldered the mission of delivering the credentials and embarked on the road back to Chang'an. This journey would take more than half a year. He always had a premonition that this journey would not go smoothly.
Ye Butong was still in the team. Li Qiwu originally hated this slave who leaked the news, but Ye Butong asked him a question in return.
"Alang has also met Trisong Dezan. Although he is young, he has great ambitions and is very popular. Help him get rid of Ma Xiang, and he will become a British ruler in the future. Is it really good for the Tang Dynasty?"
"What do you mean by this? You are not following orders..."
Li Qiwu had a guess in his mind and stopped embarrassing Ye Butong.
They traveled for another month and arrived at the territory of the Subi tribe. One day they stayed in a temple.
Li Qiwu was very tired and fell asleep early. When he was sleeping soundly, he suddenly felt someone talking to him.
"Li Qiwu, wake up."
He then opened his eyes and saw several monks standing in front of the bed. Among them was a young monk who was tied up. He looked very familiar.
Taking a closer look, he couldn't help but exclaimed.
"Zamp..."
Suddenly, the person next to the couch covered Li Qiwu's mouth and nose with force, leaving only his frightened eyes exposed.
Just when he thought he was going to die, he heard the other party's voice.
"Stop being so startled, I will let you go. We are our own people."