Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

But the news that surprised Sancho even more was that after the defeat of the rebels, the imperial army did not chase after the reckless Hebei rebels. Instead, they began to compete for the gold and silver belongings left by the rebels on the battlefield. What was even more frightening was that after the victory, the Huihe people even burned, killed and looted nearby villages.

"This, how is this possible?" Sancho was already speechless: "This is Guanzhong! The Weihe River is only tens of miles away from Chang'an City. It can be said that it is at the foot of the emperor. Those Huihe people are so bold? Dare to rob here? Are they not afraid of punishment by the court?"

"Punishment?" Bai Min laughed loudly when he heard the words: "Mr. Lang, you are also an official. How could you say such a thing? In the eyes of the court, these Huihe people are meritorious ministers, distinguished guests! Without them, this group of rebels would not be so easy to deal with? If they lose again, the court may have to defend the city firmly. So many manors and other palaces outside the city have become the purses of those rebels, and the nobles in Chang'an City will suffer a great loss! Compared with these, thousands of people died. , What does it matter if a dozen or twenty villages are looted?"

"You can't say that. The credit goes to the credit, and the fault goes to the fault. The credit and the fault cannot be offset. These Huihe people have merit, but we can't ignore the fault behind!"

"Hey, you really don't understand!" Bai Min shook his head and said with a smile, "Let me use an example! Your home was attacked by bandits. When the situation was critical, some guests who happened to come to visit drew their knives and drove the robbers away. Afterwards, these guests didn't tell you anything about it. They took a dozen sheep and two cows from your stable to kill and eat them. Would you blame them for this?"

"Of course we can't blame him!" Sancho smiled wryly, "But it can't be compared like this, right? Huihe people kill people, not cattle and sheep. Is it the same thing?"

"In your eyes, those villagers are human beings, but in the eyes of the imperial court, they may not be!" Bai Min sneered, "I'm afraid that in the eyes of the imperial court, those ordinary people are not the same as cattle plowing land, sheep growing wool, and eating meat?"

Sancho was dumbfounded when he heard this. He remembered that when he was a shepherd slave in Baekje, he was abused, beaten and scolded by his master. In the eyes of the former master, he might not be as good as the grazing animals. He didn’t expect the emperor of the Tang Dynasty to do the same. Could it be that the world is really black?
"That's all!" Seeing that Sancho didn't speak, Bai Min thought he had offended the other party: "I just said it, please forgive me!"

"Nothing!" Sancho waved his hand: "You didn't say anything wrong. Just now I remembered some past events. Forget it, let's not mention these things. I see that your clothes are thin, and winter is coming soon. I have two old clothes, you can wear them first!"

"I'm poor in the next family, thank you sir!" Bai Min cupped his hands in obeisance, Sanqiu asked his subordinates to take out two old clothes, handed them to Bai Min and said, "Although your words are reasonable, if you let meddlesome people listen to it, I'm afraid it will cause disaster. You should be more cautious in the future!"

Bai Min knew that Sanqiu had good intentions, so he bowed his thanks, took the old clothes and left.Sancho returned to the house, feeling depressed. When he first came to Chang'an, he was shocked by this great city. The palaces, streets, culture, market, weeping willows beside the Baqiao, the Shinto in front of the mausoleum, and a statue of Weng Zhong are all things he has never seen before: too many emperors have built their capitals here, and there will be more emperors here in the future.Gradually, he was able to understand why Chang'an people always raised their chins proudly in front of outsiders. If he was born here and lived in the center of the world, he would be as proud as them.

But as he knew more and more, that kind of greatness was like a wax figure that fell into the fire, gradually softening, deforming, and melting.Although those dignitaries dressed in silk and satin and riding steeds on the streets of Chang'an were more elegant, richer, and more powerful than his old Baekje masters, there was no difference in essence. They were all guys who treated others like livestock.

"These dogs!" Sancho angrily kicked over the cases: "One day, let them also experience the feeling of being treated as livestock!"

"Lang Jun, Captain Murong is outside, he said he has something important to do!" The subordinate stood at the door and said, he looked at the cases he found curiously, but didn't say much.

"Murong Mu? It's already dark, so what's the matter with him so late?" Sancho looked at the sky outside, but he didn't think too much: "Please come in, I just want to say goodbye to him, so I don't have to make another trip when he comes!"

"Farewell? Are we leaving Chang'an? Are we waiting for the people back to Chengdu?" the subordinate asked curiously.

"Well, don't wait!" Sancho shook his head: "To be honest, this place is not suitable for us, the sooner we leave, the better!"

The subordinate's eyes flickered, but he didn't say much, he saluted Sancho and walked out quickly.Sancho can feel the disappointment of the other party, yes!Who doesn't want to stay in Chang'an for a few more days and gain more knowledge?But after all, this is not our place to stay for a long time. For people like us, mountains, forests, wilderness, meadows, swamps, deserts, and seas are more suitable for us. Thinking of this, he couldn't help touching the handle of the knife at his waist.

"Hurry up and change your clothes, His Royal Highness is calling!" Murong Mu said in a deep voice as soon as he entered the door.

"His Royal Highness wants to see me?" Sancho was taken aback. He never expected that he would have a chance to see the prince again. Could it be something important?

"Yes, hurry up, don't make His Royal Highness wait for a long time!" Murong Mu was short of breath, his face was pale, obviously he was also quite nervous.

Sanqiu didn't dare to ask any more questions, he hurriedly asked someone to fetch a brocade robe to change into, then followed Murong Mu out of the door, all the way to the north, entered the palace gate through the Yanxi Gate, and then went straight to the East Palace.Along the way, Sancho saw that there was no one on the road, except for the occasional patrol guards, and he couldn't help but think to himself: "At this juncture, why does His Majesty Donggong want to see me?"

Miyagi was dark and silent.When Murong Mu and Sanqiu passed through the gate of the East Palace, the moon, which had turned round, was already hanging low over the high wall.On the barrier, a guard with a black and red cloak was patrolling back and forth.

Entering the inner hall, Sancho saw two rows of guards standing in the long corridor. The door was a majestic man in iron armor with a majestic expression. He nodded to Murong Mu: "You can just stay here. Is he Sancho? Come with me!"

Sancho nodded, he felt as if his throat was stuck by an invisible hand, and he couldn't breathe.The majestic man led Sancho into the main hall, stopped at the entrance of the inner hall, and said loudly: "His Royal Highness, Sancho has arrived!"

"Let him in!" The prince's voice came from the hall, and it sounded a bit muddy.

The inner sanctum was much hotter than the outside, and the braziers beside the pillars were burning hot, filling the room with a somber red light.The prince was lying on the bed with a silk curtain, beside a doctor who was holding his pulse.The maids came and went, and they were busy.But when Sancho entered the door, the prince's gaze was fixed on him, as if he was a man in a dream.

"Sancho!" The prince's voice was not loud, his face was as pale as rancid milk: "Come closer!"

Sancho opened his mouth, but made no sound. He knelt down, said a few words on his knees, and stopped five or six steps away from the bed.The prince shook his head: "Closer!"

"Of order!" Sancho moved forward a few more steps, and he was already in front of the bed.The prince nodded in satisfaction: "Everyone else go out!"

The doctor and the court ladies were like tame birds, silently exiting the palace. Sancho realized that what the prince was going to say to him next could not be heard by a third party, and he suddenly panicked. Obviously, he wanted to tell his master what he said, but could he bring it to him?he asked himself.

"I recruited you today to let you bring a message to Wang Qing!" The prince's speech was not fast, but his breathing was a little short: "The next thing you can only say to Wang Qing, and the fourth person is not allowed to know! Do you understand?"

"The villain understands!" Sancho kowtowed: "The slave's life is bestowed by the lord. If the situation changes, it's just death. Don't tell me!"

"Okay!" Li Hong nodded in satisfaction: "A few days ago, the Hebei garrison mutiny happened because the imperial court did not give enough cloth, so it angered the soldiers and triggered the mutiny..."

Sancho knelt by the bed, and the more he heard it, the more frightened he became.It turned out that there was a reason for the mutiny that shook the world a few days ago: According to the custom at that time, the imperial court would give some property to the soldiers and horses who went to garrison faraway places. Usually, such rewards would be silk, which was light in weight.This time was no exception, but what was unexpected was that after the soldiers in Hebei received the silk, they found that the quality was very poor. It was not so much silk as fine linen.So these Hebei soldiers thought that they had been embezzled by the officials who distributed the silk, and they made a noise, which finally triggered this amazing mutiny.

"Hey, what's going on with this silk? Could it be that it was really withheld by the issuing officials? This is a heinous crime!" Sancho thought to himself.

"The imperial court has already sent people to conduct a strict investigation!" Li Hong sighed: "The results were reported, and the officials who handled the matter at the time did not tamper with it, and the silk that was handed out was taken from the treasury by him!"

"Then, is that guarding oneself?"

"No, this batch of Shu brocade was just delivered to the treasury, and the previous stock has been used up. The people who went to check checked the undistributed Shu brocade in the treasury. It was the same as the one distributed to the soldiers. They were all made of fine linen and raw silk. The difference is that there is more raw silk or more fine linen!"

"Shu brocade? Just delivered?" A flash of light flashed in Sancho's mind, and beads of sweat immediately flowed from his forehead: "This, this, did this come from Chengdu?"

"That's right! It was shipped from Chengdu!" Li Hong sighed: "Wang Qing said that 30 pieces of Shu brocade were confiscated to meet the imperial court's urgent need, and this is the batch that was shipped! The imperial court has sent people to find the escorts to see if there are any mistakes in them!"

Sancho was already trembling with fright when he heard this, of course he knew the severity of it.This matter is said to have big stools and small urine. If you talk about it in Dali, these things called Shu brocade in name set off a mutiny in Chang'an.

Li Hong glanced at Sancho, who was trembling like chaff, and sighed: "Go back and tell Wang Qing that this king will try his best to deal with this matter before His Majesty, so that he doesn't have to worry, and he can focus on guarding Jiannan Road for the court! Of course, such a big matter will eventually have a result. If you let him give the court a similar explanation, it will be fine naturally, and there is no need to worry too much!"

"Thank you, Your Highness, Your Highness!" Hearing this, Sancho didn't know that it was the Prince who took care of this matter. He felt ecstatic in his heart, and kowtowed again and again: "The villain will definitely tell the master what you said verbatim, please rest assured, and be good at raising dragon bodies! My master will definitely handle things carefully, and will not waste your love..."

"Hehe!" Li Hong looked at Sancho, who was already incoherent, and laughed: "Forget it, Wang Qing once made great contributions to the court, and this king will never forget it. You should go back quickly! Remember to tell Wang Qing what I said before the court's envoy to Chengdu arrives!"

"Your Highness, please don't worry, the villain will pack his bags immediately after returning, and leave early tomorrow morning!" Sancho hurriedly said.

"That's good, step back!" Li Hong said with a smile.

"The villain obeys the order!" Sancho kowtowed twice, walked backwards out of the hall, and then got up to leave.Seeing the figure gradually disappearing from the window, Li Hong suddenly coughed violently. The doctor outside hurried in after hearing the sound, helped his pulse for a while and said, "His Royal Highness, your body needs to be rested. If it is possible, it is better to see less outsiders bothering you!"

"Don't worry sir, I just don't see outsiders!" Li Hong smiled.

——————————————————————————————

As soon as he walked out of the palace gate, Murong Mu came up to meet him and said in a low voice: "What did His Highness the Crown Prince say?"

"Captain Murong, please forgive me, it's a confidential matter, I'm afraid I can't tell you!" Sancho showed an apologetic expression.

"Then don't say it!" Murong Mu said, "Then what's the arrangement?"

"I'm going out of the city tomorrow morning and hurry back to Chengdu!" Sancho said.

"I understand, let's go through Yanping Gate! The official road leading to Chengdu is the way out of the city!" Murong Mu said in a deep voice.

"Okay, it's getting late, I'll go back and rest first!"

"Yeah!" Murong Mu nodded, the group left the Yanxi Gate, just got on their horses, Murong Mu suddenly said: "Do you know why His Highness the Crown Prince looked like that just now?"

"Why?" asked Sancho.

"I don't know the exact reason!" Murong Mu lowered his voice, "I only heard from the acquaintances of the Taiji Palace that the crown prince scolded the prime minister in front of the two His Majesties at that time. His words were fierce and the trouble was out of control. In the end, even the two His Majesties were annoyed, saying that this position will be yours sooner or later, so why worry!"