Tibet.

Chapter 1434 Slaves of Kunlun
There is a large house covering an area of ​​about 15 acres in Anrenfang. This is the house of Wang Sili, the General of the Right Guard and the former Jiedushi of Longyou.

Wang Sili was a typical example of someone who experienced excessive joy and then tragedy. Originally, Emperor Li Ye had decided to let him take over the position vacated by Dugu Lie, and serve as the Minister of War, Chief Priest of the Yanwu Hall, and Co-Prime Minister of the Secretariat.

Right Prime Minister Wei Jiansu had already talked to him.

Wang Sili was so ecstatic that he got drunk on the eve of his enthronement. He suffered a stroke and became paralyzed, with his legs losing sensation. The next day, the Council of State received the news and, on the one hand, sent people to visit him, and on the other hand, reported the matter to the emperor in a timely manner.

Li Ye withheld the signed imperial edict of appointment and immediately sent imperial physicians to treat Wang Sili. The imperial physicians confirmed that Wang Sili was paralyzed and unable to walk.

Li Ye rescinded the imperial edict appointing Wang Sili. This was the first imperial edict that had been signed and then rescinded since he ascended the throne.

Wang Sili was heartbroken and very depressed after the stroke. Guo Ziyi and others went to his house to comfort him, but their repeated persuasion was of no avail.

Perhaps because of his bad mood, misfortunes never come singly. Not long after, Wang Sili suffered another stroke, his mouth and nose became crooked, and he could not speak clearly.

Everyone predicted that Wang Sili might not survive this winter.

It was snowing lightly from the sky. Wang Sili sat alone on the steps of the inner courtyard, looking at the falling snowflakes in the yard. He sat on a soft couch, covered with a thick blanket.

Behind him stood a Kunlun slave named Sanggan, who had shiny dark skin, a tall and strong build.

There were two sources of Kunlun slaves in the Tang Dynasty. One was the black people from India, who were sold to Chang'an by merchants from Gandhara. The other was the prisoners of war captured by the Arabs in the war against Egypt. A small number of real African blacks were also sold to Chang'an.

Although both types of Kunlun slaves were very dark, the Indian Kunlun slaves all went to work on farms, while the Arab Kunlun slaves, because of their tall stature and strong physique, often stayed in their master's houses as slaves.

Although the imperial court had issued an abolition order, or more precisely, an abolition order for common people, the abolition order was divided into two steps. The first step was mainly for common people, that is, prostitutes, musicians, prisoners of war and other low-class people were restored to civilian status, as well as the release of official slaves and slaves under the age of 20. As for slaves over the age of 20, they were required to be gradually cleared out within three years.

The first to be affected were the slaves in officials' homes. Emperor Li Ye issued an edict at the beginning of the year, requiring that all slaves in officials' homes must be released as civilians before the end of June this year. They could continue to be used, but they had to be hired out, paid, and their personal freedom could not be restricted.

It is now mid-November, more than five months past the deadline, and Wang Sili has clearly violated the regulations.

Sang Gan behind Wang Sili is a Kunlun slave who was trafficked to Chang'an from the Egyptian war. He was sold to Chang'an at the age of seventeen and was bought by Wang Sili's mansion. It has been thirteen years. It can be said that he is loyal to Wang Sili. After Wang Sili was paralyzed, he was specifically responsible for carrying Wang Sili on his back.

At this time, Wang Sili pointed to a small pine tree in the courtyard. Sang Gan understood what his master meant. There was snow on the small pine tree. It was an ornamental pine tree and could not be crushed by the snow.

Sang Gan hurried down to the yard and stood on a big rock to clear the snow off the tree. Unexpectedly, the big rock was covered with a thin layer of ice. Sang Gan slipped and lost his balance, falling heavily on the small pine tree. With a "crack!" sound, the small pine tree broke into two pieces, and Sang Gan fell into the yard.

Sang Gan was terrified and quickly stood up, knelt down and kowtowed to apologize.

Wang Sili was furious when he saw his beloved pine tree was broken into two pieces. He picked up the bell on the couch and started shaking it. "Dang! Dang!" The clear sound of the bell echoed throughout the yard.

Immediately, more than a dozen personal soldiers rushed in from outside. Wang Sili pointed at Sang Gan who was kneeling on the ground and made a killing gesture.

The guards were all stunned. Sanggan was a kind person and everyone liked him. Besides, it was just a pine tree that was crushed. It was not a big deal. More importantly, the lord was very dependent on Sanggan. What if the lord regretted it one day?
But the lord's orders could not be disobeyed, and the leader of the personal guards reacted quickly and immediately ordered: "Drag him away and beat him to death with sticks!"

He winked at several of his men, who understood and stepped forward to pull Sang Gan, but Sang Gan, who was kneeling on the ground, did not know the tacit understanding among the soldiers. He thought he was going to be beaten to death, so he quickly crawled two steps, hugged Wang Sili's legs and cried loudly, begging him to spare his life for the sake of his thirteen years of service.

But Wang Sili was as hard as stone. With a wave of his hand, the soldiers dragged Sang Gan away by force. At this moment, Sang Gan was desperate. He had worked hard and served his master for thirteen years! In the end, his life was not as good as a pine tree.

Sang Gan suddenly stopped crying. He stared at Wang Sili and was forcibly dragged away by the soldiers.

But the personal guards did not execute him immediately. Instead, they beat him with a hundred sticks until he was dying, and threw him into a cell. If the lord changed his mind, they could save him. If the lord really wanted to kill him, it would not be too late to execute Sanggan later.

Kunlun Nusanggan was thrown into prison, waiting for his final death.

In the afternoon, Li Ye suddenly received a message from his wife Dugu Xinyue sent from Huaqing Palace, asking him to come to Huaqing Palace quickly.

Li Ye was startled. Something must have happened, otherwise his wife would not be so anxious to let him go to Huaqing Palace. He immediately asked someone to prepare a horse, and under the strict protection of three hundred guards, he rode to Huaqing Palace.

At dusk, Li Ye rushed to the inner palace of Huaqing Palace. Dugu Xinyue was already waiting for him. Seeing her husband coming, she hurriedly came up to him and said, "It's about my mother-in-law!"

Li Ye was shocked, "What happened to her?"

Dugu Xinyue pulled Li Ye aside and whispered, "My mother-in-law and father-in-law had a quarrel. My mother-in-law was so angry that she cried and wanted to hang herself. She was rescued by the palace maids and sent to Huaqing Palace."

Li Ye was even more suspicious, "Why?"

Dugu Xinyue asked the maids on both sides to walk away and whispered, "My husband, do you still remember the maid named Xiaohong?"

Li Ye nodded. He certainly remembered that Xiaohong used to serve him and wanted to go to Suiye with him to be his concubine, but he did not agree. Later, Xiaohong went to serve Mu Da Niang, and then was transferred to clean her father's study. As a result, she seduced his father and something indecent happened in the study. As a result, the matter became a big deal, and his mother gave her two hundred strings of cash and sent her away.

“This happened many years ago!”

Dugu Xinyue nodded, "I had forgotten about her too, but this Xiaohong came again, bringing a boy of seven or eight years old with her, insisting that he was my father-in-law's child."

Li Ye frowned, "How is this possible? Just drive her away."

"That's the problem. My mother-in-law asked the female guard to drive her away, but the female guard came back and said that my father-in-law wouldn't let her go."

"and then?"

"Of course, the mother-in-law went to the father-in-law to settle the score in anger. Unexpectedly, the father-in-law said that the child was probably his."

"what?"

Li Ye was very shocked, "Why does my father say that?"

Dugu Xinyue sighed and said, "I heard from my mother-in-law that my father-in-law finally confessed. He secretly gave Xiaohong three thousand strings of cash that year. Later, Xiaohong came to him again, and he still gave her the money privately."

Li Ye was also a little confused. In the Tang Dynasty, paternity testing was not possible like in later generations. As long as there was a little bit of fate and the timing was right, and the children looked somewhat similar, most men would accept them as their own sons. When the children grew up, all kinds of family conflicts would arise because of this. After all, it was something that could not be explained.

Li Ye also understood his father's feelings. Ever since his elder brother Li Huai died, although he did not say it, he always missed him in his heart, so much so that he was a little depressed.

Now, a person who might be his own son suddenly appeared, which aroused the father-son affection in his heart again.

"How is mother now?"

"She's fine. After we talked her out of it, she's calmed down. She asked me not to tell you."

Li Ye smiled bitterly. How could he not know about this kind of thing?

He thought for a moment and said to his wife, "I won't go in. You tell mother that I know about this matter. Don't worry, I will find out everything. If it is really my father's child, I will keep it. If it is not my father's child, he can't let me do it even if he wants to!"

Dugu Xinyue thought of something else and said to Li Ye, "My mother also told me that after Xiaohong was driven away, she specifically investigated Xiaohong's background and found that she was full of lies. She said that she was the daughter of a good family in Chang'an and an orphan, but in fact she was not. She had a father and a mother. Later, it was discovered that her parents were also fake, just to cover up her spying on her father-in-law. She was actually a Silla maid who escaped from a wealthy family. She was already sixteen years old. She lied to Butler Liu that she was only fourteen years old, and Butler Liu kindly took her in."

Li Ye also remembered, "I think she was used by Li Fuguo to monitor my father!"

"My mother-in-law said that it wasn't like that at first, but later on, Li Fuguo bribed her with three hundred strings of cash, and then she started to spy on my father-in-law."

Xiaohong was actually a maid from Silla! Li Ye had never expected this.

(End of this chapter)