The fox minister in the late Tang Dynasty

Chapter 102 The Emperor Wants to Run Away
Wars are a matter of the imperial court. For Geng Qing, who is still a small official of the Ministry of punishment, he can only bear it in silence. Even if he can be appreciated by the son-in-law, it is only in such an atmosphere that he comes up with ideas. That's why he came out of the son-in-law's house today. The phrase 'hold military power in your hands'.

Without military power, there is really no right to speak, especially in this age.

As the night fell, dense flames rose into the night sky of the city. The people in the courtyard knew that Geng Qing was in a bad mood today, so they didn't bother to bother them, and went to bed early.

In the room on the third floor, the light flickered gently, outlining the shadow of the young man at the desk and casting it on the window lattice. There was still a slight snoring sound on the bed next to him, and the sturdy scholar was sleeping soundly with one foot dangling under the bed.

Shasha~~
Geng Qing was making some plans in the unique slight movement of the pen nib moving across the paper, afraid that others would see it, and mostly used some pinyin, crooked and coherent, at first glance he thought it was Sanskrit.

"Luoyang has fallen, and I believe the news will spread in the city soon. The consorts don't have military power, so they can only grind their mouths with others in the court hall, which is of no avail. The vanguard sent by the eunuch to Tongguan has a great strategy Junju is a bunch of dudes, poor people and sick people who fight on behalf of others.'

'. Qi Kerang, who retreated into Tongguan, should still have some soldiers and horses, but he doesn't know if his courage has been killed. With [-] to [-] people who can't fight against hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, if the food and fodder can keep up, maybe they can last Forget it in a day or two, it is a lost situation. '

Geng Qing stopped writing, frowned, looked at the writing on it, and threw the brush on it casually.

'Since such a situation has already been thought of, why bother with the affairs of the court? '

'But why do you feel a little uncomfortable? '

The wind squeezed through the window, the candle standing on the desk shook twice, the snoring stopped suddenly on the sleeping figure on the bed, opened his eyes suddenly and sat up, his hair was hanging down in a bun, his face was slightly sideways as if he was listening What.

Hearing the movement, Geng Qing turned around, smiled and was about to speak, but Qin Huaimian on the opposite side didn't respond, just got up, walked to the end of the bed, and took a saber hanging from the tail post in his hand.

"Brother Qin, this is you."

While Geng Qing was speaking, the walnut trees in the courtyard were rustling, and in the sound of the wind, a figure jumped out of the darkness, stood on the top of the wall and rushed towards the attic.

During Geng Qing's words, Qin Huaimian held the hilt of the sword and pulled out the blade with a clang. His footsteps quickly hit the window lattice, and the moment he fell, he stepped on the guardrail and threw it to the courtyard wall below.

In an instant, just below, the scholar's voice yelled: "Who?!"

Then, there was a burst of golden sounds, and the bang bang sounded continuously in the dark night. The gang members on duty at night rushed out of the house when they heard the noise, and saw a pair of black shadows rushing to fight against the opposite courtyard wall. In the light of the torches, the shadows of swords overlapped and intertwined, arousing speckled sparks.

In the darkness, I don't know who kicked who, the brick on the courtyard wall exploded, and half of the brick flew over. The helpers here hurriedly avoided, and the brick directly smashed a big hole in the window lattice.

"stop!"

Geng Qing walked out of the room, holding a six-hole firearm in his hand and yelling at the fighting figures on the courtyard wall below. Seeing that no one was paying attention, he raised his hand and pointed the gun at the sky and pulled the trigger.

Bang!
The fire exploded in an instant, and a hole was opened in the eaves above. The sudden loud noise startled everyone in the courtyard and the two figures on the courtyard wall, and all stopped.

"You have to force me to use the Fire Cloud Palm, so you can listen to it?"

Geng Qing disgraced and hid the firearm behind his back, as if standing with one hand in front of the guardrail overlooking the crowd below, with a look of disdain for everything.

"The uninvited guest, since he's here, you might as well give him a name, let's talk about it, I like reasoning the most."

The two people on the courtyard wall were shocked by this loud noise, especially the intruder who was facing the intruder. When he was fighting with the scholar, he saw the huge fire ball rising from the corner of his vision.

"Fire cloud palm? It's such a powerful palm technique, Geng Lang-jun is unexpected, and it's hidden."

The man suddenly laughed, put away the sword in his hand, lowered himself down the courtyard wall, and strolled into the courtyard. With the light of the torches around him, Geng Qing saw clearly that this person was wearing a green shirt and a sword with red tassels hanging from his waist. Zhuang people leave.

"It turned out to be the head of Zhuang." Geng Qing threw the firearm behind him, laughed, and walked down the stairs, clasped his fists, and said a few times, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Then the parents, Bai Yunxiang, Qiaoniang went back to sleep.

Qin Huaimian over there with her bun hanging down, glanced at Geng Qing, and the old man hung the sword upside down, jumped back to the third floor and returned to the room without saying a word.

Zhuang Renli glanced at the man, laughed and said:

"Mr. Geng Lang has a master by his side. This man's swordsmanship is good, and he has a bit of the old man's demeanor."

"Master Zhuang must have been a handsome young man when he was young, ha ha." The visitor is a guest, although Geng Qing doesn't like this guest, but when someone comes, etiquette is always done, "Let's talk, Zhongtang, please. "

"That's not necessary, just talk in the courtyard." The old man walked to the old tree in the courtyard with his hands behind his back, and looked up to see the hanging branches and leaves swaying in the wind. Is there any news?"

"Luoyang stayed behind and dedicated the city."

"Oh?"

Over there, Zhuang Renli, who was looking up at the old tree with his hands behind his back, showed joy on his face, flicked his wide sleeves, and turned around, "Tell me what happened."

The old man really wanted to be a minister of the dragon, and he was stunned.

Geng Qing smiled and invited him to sit on the stone bench under the tree, and told the other party what happened in the past two days, of course, the matter about the court was hidden from the past.

"Luoyang has fallen, and the rebel army will march westward to Chang'an. It must be two or three months. The head of the village can sit quietly in the city and wait for the rebel army to enter the city."

"How do you know that the general will reach Chang'an within two or three months?"

"Hehe. The fall of Luoyang, the tremors in the capital, the imperial court must be panicked. Naturally, they will urge the governors of the towns. Once there are loyal people, they will unite to besiege Luoyang. Master Zhuang, do you think the rebels will stay in Luoyang and wait to be besieged? ?”

In fact, how did Geng Qing know so clearly, but he calculated it from Yu Cong's chatting, talking about this anti-thief team running from north to south.

Generally speaking, there is no stable rear support, and they are afraid of being besieged, so they can only run around. In addition, every time they pass by, they will bring local people to join the army, and the snowball will get bigger and bigger. The momentum looks quite scary, but In fact, it is only a few tens of thousands of people who can actually fight, and the rest are mostly consumed by rushing to the front line.

Regardless of whether the Zhuang people believed it or not, the current fall of Luoyang City is true. After the news is released, it will naturally be clear whether what he said is true or not.

The old man stood up and walked back and forth under the tree with some excitement, "Two or three months. When the rebel army came to the city, the old man tangled with the remaining gang members, and attacked the city gate together from inside and outside, and let the army enter the city. This is Chang'an's first achievement. It's what the old man got."

"Why do you have to attack the city?"

Geng Qing got up, walked behind the old man, looked at the other man's doubtful look with a smile, and smiled: "It will be more capable to take down Chang'an without bloodshed."

Zhuang Renli narrowed his eyes and looked at Geng Qing seriously for a moment.

"Mr. Geng Lang has a solution?"

"Yes, it's just persuasion, but it's not now. When Tongguan is broken and Chang'an is endangered, let's look at the changes in the city."

The lantern under the eaves shone here, dimming and dimming the faces of the two people who were looking at each other. The old man's smile gradually changed with his hands behind his back, and his tone of approval was exuding seriousness.

"Okay, when Mr. Geng Lang needs help, he can call on the old man. But... if you play tricks, then don't blame the old man for turning his face."

He looked at the wooden building, and the meaning became very clear.

Geng Qing still stood there with a smile on his face, and cupped his hands casually.

"I also hope that the head of Zhuang will speak a few words in front of the general, support him, and become an official. I can't count on the imperial court."

After getting the answer, Zhuang Renli was satisfied with Geng Qing's attitude, said something more casually, raised the weapon and flicked his cuffs, jumped over the courtyard wall and plunged into the darkness, gradually going away with the sound of howling wind.

When the light of the lantern came, the smile on Geng Qing's face changed.

"Oh, I hate being threatened"

Turning around and going back to the wooden building, pushing the door open and entering the room, Qin Huaimian was still lying on the bed and breathing softly, when Geng Qing sat back at the desk, his voice sounded softly over there.

"Is this the shortcut you said?"

Geng Qing didn't know the meaning of his words, smiled and picked up the brush again, wiped off the ink, put his arms around his wide sleeves, followed the content on it, and continued to write.

"The imperial court can't keep Chang'an, and can't they allow me to keep my family? As for the shortcut, this is just a stepping stone. Brother Qin wants to be an official in the future, so why not follow me first, anyway, there probably won't be any imperial examinations in the future , if you want to be an official, I can do what you want."

Over there, the figure on the bed didn't respond. He folded his arms and rolled over to face inside. After a while, he squeezed out softly, "Okay."

Geng Qing turned his face to the side, smiled, wrote for a while, blew on the ink on it, folded it and put it in the drawer, tapped Qin Huaimian's legs to make him lie down inside, moved him out, and then blew out the candle fire.

In the days that followed, Geng Qing went to the Ministry of Criminal Affairs to work as usual, to mix up some salary. As for the son-in-law's mansion, Yu Cong was ill, and only occasionally met with him. Most of the talks were about the situation, and he probably wanted to Listen to Geng Qing's thoughts.

During this period of time, it was enough for Geng Qing to understand the situation clearly, and he had a rough outline in his mind to imagine what would happen after the city was broken. It happened like this for a few days in a row. Occasionally, a scholar named Xie Tong came to visit, pulling Qin Huaimian and Geng Qing chatted freely, lamented about the failure of the imperial examination, and sometimes got excited, and even competed with Qin Huaimian.

Although martial arts is not as good as Qin Huaimian, it is also much better than the gang members in the courtyard, which makes Geng Qing feel that these scholars are really able to break through the formation and kill the enemy when they get on their horses, and they can govern the people with their pens.

There is one more thing that keeps Geng Qing in mind.

He told Bai Yunxiang to buy as much grain and fodder as possible in Chang'an and hoard it at home in case of possible food shortage in the future.

I probably feel that the days are just like this, until the rebels break through Tongguan and approach Chang'an. On the night of September [-]th, it's time for the curfew.

Zhang Huaiyi suddenly sent someone secretly to call him, and hurried to the imperial city, Geng Qing hurriedly got off the bed, and called Qin Huaimian to drive away in a carriage.

Sure enough, passing through the streets on the way, occasionally a few carriages secretly drove towards the imperial city.

When approaching, it was Zhang Huaiyi who was in the car. He asked Geng Qing to transfer over, whispered a few words in his ear, Geng Qing stared at the oil lamp on the low table, and was stunned for a moment.

"The emperor is leaving?"

Brother Zhang Huaiyi, with a rare serious expression, "At night, I heard someone saw my father, and then I saw him put on his official robe in a panic and ran away. I asked the person in charge to inquire. Something happened in the imperial city. Your Majesty His imperial chariot is going out of the palace."

When the two carriages drove to the imperial city one after the other, the hundreds of official residences close to the imperial city were alarmed at this time, and the carriages rolled out of the mansions and courtyards. Yu Cong's face turned pale, but his body was better. Hearing the news, he didn't care so much, and hurried to dissuade him.

In front of him, Lu Xie arched his hands and bowed in the middle of the city gate, preventing the imperial chariot from passing by. He did not back down when he looked at the two tall horses in front of him, but tried to persuade the emperor in the imperial chariot to go back. More and more officials from the DPRK and China gathered, slightly shut their mouths, and swallowed their words.

"Criminal Minister Lu Xie, please see Your Majesty, and implore Your Majesty not to leave the palace late at night."

The imperial chariot shook slightly, the curtain was lifted, and Li Xuan's face came out as usual, "What did Lu Qing say, I am only worried about Luoyang, and I came out for a stroll in the chariot. Look, if I want to tour the south, how can I not?" Bringing concubines and soldiers? Lu Xiang, you are worrying too much."

The old man arched his hands, not sure to move away, and stood there stubbornly.

"Your Majesty, please return to the palace."

Over there, Yu Cong and Zheng Tian, ​​who has not yet left the capital, are also advising them. These people are all court officials, and most of the officials who follow behind them are headed by three people. Dangerous, Datang will be in danger and so on.

"you!!"

After all, Li Xuan is a young man, with a stubborn temper, he was also angry. During the stalemate, another carriage came over. It looked like it belonged to the consort's mansion, but it was Li Huan, Princess Guangde, who was the daughter of Xuanzong. They are brother and sister with the first emperor, and they are Li Xuan's aunt in seniority.

Seeing her coming too, Li Xuan's expression turned pale immediately, and Tian Lingzi couldn't speak, so he could only say softly: "Your Majesty, it's getting late, staying up late is not good for your health."

With the ladder down, the emperor returned to the chariot, "As you wished." Then he drove back to the palace with the guards.

Outside the imperial city, Geng Qing, who was standing in a nearby corner watching a play, held a chicken leg, served a drink and touched Zhang Huaiyi and Qin Huaimian. It was a pleasant experience to watch. He didn't return to the car until the play was over. inside.

"This is also called the emperor haha"

Early the next morning, when Geng Qing went out, he found that the pedestrians on the street looked panic-stricken, there were many literati gathered in restaurants and tea shops, talking quietly, and there was a faint sense of uneasiness in the city.

On the way to the Ministry of Criminal Justice, the students of the Imperial College gathered on the street, with angry expressions, rushing to sit in front of the imperial city to petition. Across the carriage, Geng Qing probably understood that the news of Luoyang's fall had spread early this morning.

Falling into the hands of the rebels in the important town of the Eastern Capital is a big deal, and now the rebels are looking down on them, and for ordinary people, their faces are pale and powerless.

Almost on this day, less than half of the shops were closed, and they were even gradually expanding. Crowds gathered at Chang'an Wharf. Many rich families with their families quietly booked boats, and some officials in disguise secretly stuffed their families in.
Chaos will happen.

　I finally got this chapter out, isn't it a bit dull?

　　
　
(End of this chapter)