A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 328 Wu Huaiyu's Ultimate Move

Tongwan City, Outer Guocheng.

When the city was first built, it was built quite irregularly because of the terrain. It covers an area of ​​nearly 1 mu and is a gathering place for residents and markets.

The three cities of Shuofang are juxtaposed from east to west, and the southeast is Wuding River.

The Waiguo City is also called Toudao City by the locals. It is more than ten feet higher than the Wuding River. Because the Tang army came to attack, Liang Shidu moved a large number of surrounding people into the castles, and a large number of people in the Waiguo City also moved in.

People are everywhere.

Many are refugees forced into the city. They have no houses to live in, so they can only build shacks, or even live in the open air in the corner.

The sudden influx of so many people cannot provide security.

They can only be allowed to become refugees and refugees entering the city.

Compared with the dignitaries and nobles living in the east and west cities, Liang Huangxun's relatives, etc., the outer city is already very miserable. Many people have become beggars and can only beg along the street, or simply become thieves, and some people are forced to sell their children. They even sold their wives just to get a bite to eat.

The price of grain in the city keeps rising every day.

Those merchants also deliberately took the opportunity to hoard and sell them for a price.

Every morning, many starving corpses were taken away by carts, but even so, Master Liang still did not allow the soldiers to let anyone out of the city.

Many people were hungry and tired, and wanted to leave the city, but they were not allowed. The people who wanted to break out of the city every day were finally killed at the city gate.

"Master Liang has already gone crazy, this is to drag everyone to be buried with him."

In the Waiguo market, in a brothel, Song Jiang, a lame man, was meeting with Tang Fengxiao, a slave of Kunlun. The two of them drank wine and were deeply moved by the current situation in Shuofang City.

"How is Sun Da talking with Li Zhengbao?"

Kunlun slave shook his head, the two entered Shuofang one after the other, Sun Da and other generals from Shanlu City were arrested by Master Liang after they returned, and interrogated for three days and three nights.

Later, it was Liang Luoren who came forward to intercede, saying that in the midst of the great war, when employing people, although they lost the city and lost the army, they are still very loyal if they are willing to come back.

In the end, Liang Shi released more than a hundred officers including Sun Da, but all of them were demoted to soldiers.

After all, he still didn't trust him, and he didn't kill him directly because he was afraid of causing turmoil in the army.

"Li Zhengbao is a bit of a dead-headed person. He is still loyal to Master Liang at this time. Sun Da took the opportunity to visit him and said a few complaints, but he was reprimanded by him. He couldn't go on. It’s hard to fight back.”

The cripple laughed softly, "What a dead brain, it's this time, and I still can't figure it out. Forget it, since he insists on being buried with Master Liang, let him go and activate the backup plan,"

Kunlun Nu nodded.

After the meeting, we left Waiguo City. The streets and alleys along the way were full of refugees. When they saw cars and horses passing by, they all gathered around to beg.

Kunlun Nu's entourage brandished sticks desperately to drive them away, but people still surrounded them.

"Give me something to eat,"

"All right."

"A bucket of millet, and this girl will give it to you."

"Give it to you as a stutterer, I can be a cow or a horse for you."

Hungry people, desperate.

Looking at all this, Tang Fengxiao was very numb. Seeing that the carriages and horses were difficult to move, he asked his followers to grab a handful of copper coins and throw them on both sides of the road.

Sure enough, when the crowd saw the scattered money, they all jumped on it.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the carriage drove away.

Tang Fengxiao returned to Dongcheng, first went to see Sun Da, and then took him to see Liang Sui.

"Your Majesty, Li Zhengbao is collaborating with the enemy and plotting rebellion!"

As soon as they met, Sun Da immediately knelt down on the ground and shouted loudly.

Liang Sui looked at Tang Fengxiao.

"Your Majesty, General Sun is loyal and unwilling to join forces with rebels. Li Zhengbao wants to ask General Sun to go to Tang Dynasty with him to offer the city to surrender."

Liang Sui was still not in a hurry, he half-closed his eyes, half-recumbent and half-lying there, surrounded by a group of young and beautiful maidservants behind him, some fanned him, some tapped his legs, some rubbed his shoulders,

Someone even delivered sliced ​​iced watermelon to his mouth.

"Sun Da, General Li is the number one general in my dynasty. You have just been captured and released from Shanlu. Could it be that you want to drive a wedge between me, the king and general of Liang Guo, what is your intention?" Liang Sui suddenly shouted angrily.

Sun Da put his head on the ground, "Your Majesty, the last general dare not lie. Li Zhengbao is really going to turn against him. If your Majesty doesn't believe it, you can take down Li Zhengbao's lieutenant Yang Ling, and you will know at the first trial. Yang Ling is Li Zhengbao's confidant and also his Lieutenant general, I heard that he is in contact with the Tang people for Li Zhengbao."

Liang Sui sat up straight and stared at Sun Da.

"Sun Da, when you betrayed Tang to Liang, you have always been under Li Zhengbao's command, and Li Zhengbao even married his sister to you, right?"

"Returning to Your Majesty, that's true. I betrayed Tang and turned to Liang back then. There is no room left. I am also grateful to Li Zhengbao for helping me over the years. But if he wants to betray Liang and turn to Tang, I will never follow."

"Sun Da, this king has always been a little puzzled. When you rebelled against Tang and surrendered to Liang, and Shanlu was captured, why didn't the people of Tang kill you?"

Sun Da fell on the ground, knowing that if he did not answer well, his head would be lost.

"Back to Your Majesty, the last general guarding the mountain deer only fell because of the internal thieves. At that time, the minister was directly captured by the internal thieves, and he didn't even have a chance to resist. It was all forced by the situation.

Later that Tang man wanted to kill me, but later Tang general Wu Huaiyu personally went out to instigate rebellion and recruit us, the last general was loyal to Daliang, how could he surrender to Tang?

So he pretended to accept the consolation and surrender, and promised to return to Shuofang City as his internal response, but in reality he will end up being loyal to the court and the emperor..."

Liang Sui's eyeballs rolled wildly.

After a long time, he asked Sun Da to follow him into the palace to face the saint.

Face to face and Emperor Liang Shi both reported the news that Li Zhengbao was going to rebel.

These days, the Emperor Liang drank his sorrows with wine every day, and there was no news of the envoys he sent to the Turks for help, and when the Tang army was approaching the city, he could only send one hundred grains of grain and one hundred sheep every three days.

But Tang Jun just refused to retreat.

Master Liang was thinking about whether to agree to remove the title of emperor and country, and to lower the table to Datang, so that the Tang army would retreat.

Although generals such as Li Zhengbao, Xin Liaoer, and Liang Luoren said that the Tang army went deep this time, although the momentum was amazing, they did not plan to fight for a long time, they did not carry siege equipment, and the logistics workers did not carry much. No real siege.

As long as you stick to it for another month, Tang Jun will withdraw by himself.

But Liang Shi didn't believe it, especially after the news came that Dai Beiyuan Junzhang had surrendered to Tang Dynasty, he was very disturbed now.

He is already the last separatist and anti-king.

Without Turkic reinforcements, who can be sure that the Tang army will not attack violently?
But the reinforcements could not arrive for a long time, so he could only hide in the city.

Li Zhengbao and others repeatedly asked to go out to fight in the city, but Liang Shidu just refused. If they were defeated, they would really be unable to defend the city.

Liang Jun had been defeated by Tang Jun several times before, and even Shuofang's outer city and Dongcheng had been breached, so he didn't dare to gamble again.

Liang Sui took Sun Da to report the news that Li Zhengbao was about to rebel.

Master Liang was drunk, his eyes were red, and he was completely drunk when he heard the news, and broke out in a cold sweat.

"I have always treated Li Zhengbao kindly, and even accepted his sister as a noble concubine, how dare he betray me?"

Master Liang was angry and terrified.

It explodes like a cat whose tail has been stepped on.

I can't believe it, and I dare not believe it.

"Brother Huang, you should immediately lead someone to arrest Yang Ling. Keep it secret. I want the exact evidence of Li Zhengbao's rebellion."

"Your Majesty, I suggest that you remove Li Zhengbao's military power first, just in case."

Master Liang thought about it, but did not make up his mind easily, and said after a long time, "I will call Li Zhengbao into the palace soon, and will keep him in the palace for a day or two. You should arrest Yang Ling for interrogation."

When Liang Sui brought Sun Da into the palace to perform the secret performance, Tang Fengxiao, the Kunlun slave, had already sent someone to meet Yang Ling in secret.

"Sun Da took refuge in Liang Zhen and falsely accused the commander-in-chief Tong Tang of rebellion."

When Yang Ling heard the sudden news, he was so shocked that he couldn't speak for a long time.

But out of caution, he hurried to see Li Zhengbao.

"Sun Da is my brother-in-law, or my confidant. I have always treated him kindly. This time he lost his army and will lose Shanlu City and come back. I begged the prince to release him. How could he betray me?"

Li Zhengbao is now the number one general of the Liang Kingdom, with a large army and great power.

"Marshal, Sun Da has already betrayed you,"

"I want to enter the palace to face the saint,"

Li Zhengbao thought he had made great military achievements and was loyal to the emperor. Even if Sun Da suddenly betrayed him, he would not be afraid.

"The commander-in-chief hasn't figured it out yet. It's definitely not that Sun Da wants to betray the commander-in-chief. The instigator behind the scenes is Liang Sui. Liang Sui has always been at odds with the commander-in-chief. He has always wanted to kill the commander-in-chief and rob the commander-in-chief of military power. , Now Sun Da must have been captured because of the defeat of the army, and he has some clues, so he was instructed by him to falsely accuse the commander-in-chief, they came prepared."

"Even if Liang Sui instructs Sun Da to say that I am collaborating with the enemy and rebelling against the enemy, he still needs evidence. Without evidence, can he falsely accuse me in front of His Majesty?"

Faced with this sudden accusation, Li Zhengbao firmly believed that he was not afraid of the shadow.

He fought with Liang Sui for several years when he directly fought the imperial court, and he was not afraid of him.

"You go back first, don't act rashly, don't mess up your position, and let that thief Liang Sui succeed."

As soon as Yang Ling returned home, Sun Da led the palace envoys to come and secretly arrested Yang Ling after reading out the edict.

One of Yang Ling's family prostitutes named He Lian Jinzhu reported her identity to the palace envoy. She was a secret spy under the military department of Liang Guo, who was placed next to Yang Ling's eyeliner. After she revealed her identity, she reported to the palace envoy. Yang Ling's movements and so on.

It proved that Yang Ling was indeed planning to sacrifice the city to the Tang Dynasty, and provided a lot of definite evidence, including that Yang Ling had just gone to see Li Zhengbao to persuade him to act first, and handed over several secret letters.

The palace envoy was a little surprised, but he quickly contacted the official secretary of the Ministry of War, and quickly confirmed that this Yang Ling family servant was one of them. He had been sent to Lingzhou to serve as a maidservant in Li Daozong's residence. Later, the assassination of Wu Huaiyu failed, and he was finally rescued. After returning to Shuofang, he received a new mission and was assigned to Yangling's residence.

The results are reported layer by layer.

Liang Sui was very satisfied with these results, and went to the palace again to face the saint.

"Your Majesty, Yang Ling is indeed collaborating with the enemy and plotting rebellion,"

Master Liang looked at the evidence, "These can only prove that Yang Ling is collaborating with the enemy and conspiring against the enemy, but it doesn't mean that Li Zhengbao is also involved."

"I still need more evidence, more direct evidence."

Although he said so, Master Liang already believed it in his heart.

As soon as Liang Sui left, he summoned Li Zhengbao who was still visiting his sister Li Guifei in the palace.

Master Liang poured a glass of wine for Li Zhengbao, "At first I wanted to call you into the palace, let's chat more, but there is an emergency military situation, and there seems to be a change in the Tang army, and you need to go to command the city defense in person."

Li Zhengbao raised his glass.

Liang Shidu touched the glass with his lips, watching Li Zhengbao drank the glass of wine, the expression in his eyes gradually became vicious.

He suddenly said, "Li Zhengbao, I treat you well, why are you betraying me?"

"Your Majesty, did Liang Sujin slander and falsely accuse the minister? Your Majesty must not believe in slander, and the minister is loyal to your majesty..." Li Zhengbao held an empty wine glass, before he could finish a sentence, he suddenly vomited blood. Staring at the emperor in front of him with wide eyes in confidence,
They are good brothers for many years. They were officers of the Yingyang Mansion in Shuofang County together. He assisted Liang Shidu to kill the prefect and rebel, and together he conquered the Liang Kingdom. He even married his younger sister to Liang Shidu.
"Why...what?" Li Zhengbao asked puzzled.

Master Liang got up irritable, and asked Li Zhengbao angrily, "Why? You said why, why did you betray me? Why?"

He looks crazy.

"Chen... no."

Li Zhengbao tried hard to justify, but the wine he drank was highly poisonous, and he was already dying.

Master Liang drew his sword angrily, swung it down fiercely, and chopped off Li Zhengbao's lowered head. Finally, he picked up the head, held it up in front of him, and shouted hysterically, "Why, why did you even betray me? ?”

Li Zhengbao couldn't answer him anymore, his eyes were wide open, and he couldn't rest in peace.

If he could have foreseen this ending, perhaps he would agree to Sun Da's persuasion.

Angry Master Liang had red eyes, summoned his servants, and ordered Liang Sui to lead troops to arrest and purge Li Zhengbao's accomplices.

It is better to kill by mistake than to let go, not to keep one.

(End of this chapter)