People in the early Tang Dynasty: I compete with Wu Zhao for the throne

Chapter 1613: The Tang Dynasty lasted for three generations, and Wu replaced Tang. If Tang had not perished, how could Wu have replaced it?
"Brother Xiaojie, did you kill Emperor Zhongzong?"

Li Xuan's words made everyone in Lanzhou, both inside and outside the city, feel a "boom" in their heads.

Wang Xiaojie killed Emperor Zhongzong.

Their General of the Left Guard killed Emperor Zhongzong.

If Li Xuan interrogated the son-in-law Xue Shao in front of everyone about how Emperor Zhongzong died, the personal soldiers under Wang Xiaojie would not be shaken in the slightest.

But when Li Xuan questioned Wang Xiaojie, asking whether it was because he killed Emperor Zhongzong with his own hands that he was promoted from General of the Left Guard to Grand General of the Left Guard.

Many people couldn't help but start to waver.

The personal soldiers of the generals in the court are indeed closely tied to their commanders, but they are not willing to share the honor and disgrace with their commanders in all matters.

For example, treason and regicide!

Even if it was Li Xuan, if his personal soldiers were not selected by him personally from Pengzhou and Nanchang, and if they had not been instilled with the concept of loyalty to him over the years, and if he had not returned to the court this time in the name of revenge for Li Xian, otherwise, even his personal soldiers would probably have run away.

Someone might even contact the DPRK.

Li Xuan is like this, and Wang Xiaojie's personal soldiers are even worse than him.

The closer the personal guard is to the lord, the higher his official position is and the more he knows about the court.

It was also because of this that when he heard that Li Xuan suspected that Wang Xiaojie had killed Emperor Zhongzong, even his own soldiers looked at him in great surprise.

Not to mention that there are even more Left Guards in the entire city.

Originally, they were somewhat reluctant to fight Li Xuan, for everyone knew that King Peng was very powerful. It was just that King Peng was plotting treason, so they had to do so. However, now it seemed that it was not King Peng who was plotting treason, but their own general.

You know, the Left and Right Guards are the most elite troops of the Tang Dynasty.

Most of the soldiers of the Left and Right Guards came from the core area of ​​Guanzhong.

If the people in Chang'an and Luoyang are the most concerned about the government, then the people in Yongzhou and Luozhou are second only to them.

When Emperor Zhongzong died suddenly, there were already countless rumors in Chang'an and Luoyang, but fortunately, no rumor involved their own general, and people did not pay much attention to it. But now think about it, their general was able to be suddenly promoted from General of the Left Guard to General of the Left Guard, which was somewhat insufficient in military merit.

Although more than half of Wang Xiaojie's personal soldiers were from his hometown, Wang Xiaojie himself was from Xinfeng, Jingzhao.

Although it is outside Chang'an City, it is only a stone's throw away from Chang'an City.

It’s not that these personal soldiers are not loyal to Wang Xiaojie, but when they encounter such things, they can’t help but think too much.

Did Emperor Zhongzong really die at the hands of their generals?
"Peng Wang, stop slandering me." Wang Xiaojie was really angry. He grabbed a long spear from the side and slammed it on the ground. He stared at Li Xuan and said, "That day, the prince consort was also in the palace, and Brother Ma was also in the palace. They can all prove that Emperor Zhongzong's death had nothing to do with me..."

"Who does that concern?"

Li Xuan raised his head, stared at Wang Xiaojie and said, "As long as Brother Xiaojie tells me everything about Emperor Zhongzong's death, I will kneel down and kowtow to you. How do you think?"

Li Xuan looked at Wang Xiaojie without showing any weakness.

Wang Xiaojie was about to speak when a hand reached out and grabbed his arm, saying, "Brother Xiaojie, calm down."

Wang Xiaojie was stunned, and then cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

Is it so easy to explain what happened in Qianyang Palace that day?
How was the emperor deposed, how did the emperor die, and what were the emperor's last words.

If he dared to answer these questions honestly, not only others but also Ma Sizong next to him would kill him directly.

So that his blood wouldn't splash on himself in the end.

……

"It seems that Brother Xiaojie really has nothing to say." Li Xuan's words immediately aroused Wang Xiaojie's anger, but at this moment, Li Xuan's voice continued: "In this case, I will not force Brother Xiaojie today. If he kills the king in Chang'an, more people will naturally answer honestly."

Li Xuan gritted his teeth and his eyes fell from Wang Xiaojie to the other left guards on the city wall.

Many people turned their heads subconsciously.

When Wang Xiaojie saw this scene, the corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily. Although he already knew that Li Xuan was a master at attacking people's hearts, he never expected that the same thing would happen to him today.

Even among his personal soldiers, few could bear the crime of regicide.

Especially since they are half Chang'an people, and their relatives and friends are implicated in countless ways.

"I will be leaving today. Before I leave, please tell the emperor to be careful and look behind him when he travels, so as not to follow in the footsteps of his three brothers again."

Li Xuan turned his horse around and headed back the way he came with an expressionless face, reciting softly and faintly, "Planting melons under the yellow platform, the melons are ripe and the seeds are scattered. Picking once makes the melons better, picking again makes the melons rare. Picking three times is still fine, pick all and carry the vines home.

The Tang Dynasty lasted for three generations, and Wu replaced Tang.

If Tang had not been completely destroyed, how could Wu have succeeded him?"

A faint voice resounded throughout the world, and even Wang Xiaojie couldn't help but ponder this sentence: "If Tang didn't die, how could Wu replace him?"

……

Suddenly, Wang Xiaojie's face changed and he looked around. The faces of the left guards around him, even though they were Wang Xiaojie's personal soldiers, became particularly ugly.

Especially the big flag with Tang characters hanging on the top of the city wall made people feel extremely uncomfortable.

Who is the rebel and who is the one suppressing the rebellion?

"Brother Xiaojie, once what happened today gets out, the consequences will be unpredictable. What do you think, should we keep it completely secret?" Ma Sizong's light voice sounded behind Wang Xiaojie.

Wang Xiaojie turned around abruptly and looked at Ma Sizong expressionlessly: "Brother Ma, how about you report this matter to the Queen Mother and let her handle it?"

Ma Sizong's expression changed slightly. Although his expression was extremely ugly, he still closed his mouth.

"You two, the prince consort has arrived at the city." Gong Siye's indifferent voice sounded at the side, and Wang Xiaojie and Ma Sizong immediately turned their heads to look at him. Gong Siye raised his head fearlessly, as if he didn't even see the two of them.

Wang Xiaojie's face looked a little ugly. He then remembered that the reason why the Queen Mother sent Gong Siye to the northwest this time was not only because he had served in Changzhou, but also because he was the nephew of Wu Sansi, Duke of Zhou.

Earlier, Duke Zhou did some things and was exiled to Andong, where he eventually died of illness, but he was a member of the Wu family after all.

Moreover, judging from the current situation, it is difficult to say for whom Duke Zhou did those things.

If he did it for the Queen...

The Tang Dynasty lasted for three generations, and Wu replaced Tang.

Thinking of this, Wang Xiaojie quickly stopped himself from thinking any further.

If this is true, then the lineage of Duke Zhou will not be so easily destroyed, and Duke Huainan Wu Yanji will inevitably be reused in the future.

As Wu Yanji's cousin, Gong Siye also had to have a bright future.

Of course, Wang Xiaojie didn't care much about a person outside the Wu family, but the Wu family has never had many members. If he did anything to Gong Siye today, there would be trouble in the future.

Turning his head, Wang Xiaojie looked towards the city and said, "Let the prince consort in."

The city gates gradually opened.

Wang Xiaojie turned to look at the deputy general beside him and said directly: "Pass the order down, no one is allowed to discuss what happened today."

"Yes!" The deputy general immediately bowed and turned away.

Wang Xiaojie raised his head and looked at Ma Zongsi.

Ma Sizong's face was full of sarcasm.

No matter how much we forbid discussing what happened today, I'm afraid it will spread far and wide very quickly.

But what if we don’t do this?

All those on the city wall were Wang Xiaojie's left guard soldiers.

Without these people, Wang Xiaojie's control over Zuowei would immediately be reduced, not to mention 30%, but at least 10%.

Facing an opponent like King Peng who was good at capturing people's hearts, if he showed the slightest flaw, he would die without knowing how.

"Brother Ma, it seems that we can't wait any longer. In three to five days, I will attack Shanzhou. I would like to ask you to lead your troops to Hezhou in person, capture Hezhou, and then attack Xinghai from Hezhou to cut off King Peng's retreat. What do you think?" Wang Xiaojie looked at Ma Sizong with cold eyes.

"I obey your command." Ma Sizong did not hesitate at all and immediately bowed his hands in response.

After all, Wang Xiaojie was the general manager of this trip to the west to quell the rebellion, and Hejian County Duke Li Hui and Ma Sizong had to obey his orders.

Well, let’s go to Hezhou first to find out what bad luck King Peng has.

……

Looking at Ma Sizong's leaving back, a hint of sneer flashed in Wang Xiaojie's eyes.

Although King Peng slandered him for killing Emperor Zhongzong today, everyone in Qianyang Palace that day knew that Emperor Zhongzong's death had nothing to do with him, King Xiaojie. Instead, it was King Sizong who killed the deposed Crown Prince Li Xian.

In the past, if a deposed crown prince was killed, that would be it.

Even if the queen nods, no one will be held accountable.

But now, the matter of Emperor Zhongzong's murder, which was questioned by Prince Peng last month, had already caused a lot of uproar. Now the news that Ma Sizong killed the deposed Crown Prince Li Xian was revealed by Prince Peng again, and there was bound to be an uproar between the court and the public.

"The Tang Dynasty lasted for three generations. Wu replaced the Tang. If the Tang had not perished, how could Wu have replaced it?" Wang Xiaojie pondered these words and couldn't help looking towards the direction of Yangzhou.

Of course he could see clearly that Yangzhou couldn't hold out for long.

Even though Pei Xingjian was in Yangzhou, preparing an army of 100,000, most of them were just new soldiers who had never fought in a battlefield.

Many of the soldiers Cheng Wuting transferred from Chang'an and Luoyang were veterans who had experienced many battles.

Many of them were even Cheng Wuting’s subordinates who had fought with Pei Xingjian in the Turkic War.

Even if the opponent is Pei Xingjian, it is just a matter of losing first and then winning.

In other words, Pei Xingjian won first and then lost.

Not to mention the Palace Attendant Censor Wei Yuanzhong.

Although Wei Yuanzhong was not a scholar of the Northern Gate, his status beside Empress Wu was no less than that of other scholars of the Northern Gate.

With him as the military supervisor, Empress Wu seemed to have a certain grasp of the outcome.

"Send an order, summon the Right Guard General Hua Dazhi and the Left Guard General Min Wengu to the provincial government for a meeting." Wang Xiaojie gave the order while turning sideways, and the personal soldiers behind him immediately turned around and left.

Wang Xiaojie looked up in the direction of Shanzhou and narrowed his eyes slightly.

If it was Duke Jiang in Changzhou, given Pei Xingjian's ability, it would be difficult for them to take Changzhou.

If it was King Peng in Yangzhou, given King Peng's ability to manipulate people's hearts, it would be extremely difficult for them to take over Yangzhou.

But fortunately, it is Prince Peng in Changzhou and Duke Jiang in Yangzhou, so it is actually easier.

Looking at the vast mountains in the distance, Wang Xiaojie gently grasped the sword in his hand.

In the end, the battle between him and Li Xuan will be decided with each other's blood.

(End of this chapter)