Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 431 Mingtang
"I recognize Li Xin, who was left behind in Dongdu, and I know that the head is real."

Helan Jinming held it in for a long time. When he arrived at his residence at night, he closed the door and discussed what he had seen today with Helan Zhijia.

"From the look in Yan Gaoqing's eyes, Lu Yi's head must be real. Could it be that Luoyang City was breached by the rebels?"

Although this was a question, the two brothers actually already had the answer in their hearts, and their respect for the court was also slightly shaken.

After a moment of silence, Helan Jinming suddenly said to himself in a firm tone: "There is still Tongguan. There is no way the rebels can break through Tongguan."

"One thing is certain, Xue Bai has been lying, and the situation is not as good as he said." Helan Zhijia said: "Let's see, sooner or later he won't be able to hide it."

Helan Jinming was originally frowning and worrying about state affairs. After hearing what he said, he turned his mind to blaming Xue Bai, and his psychological burden suddenly became much lighter.

"Every county guard is taking risks to serve the country, and they all follow the orders of a young man. If he misjudges the situation, we will lose our lives, but I am afraid that the overall situation will be missed."

"It was the Yang Party that forced An Lushan to rebel from the very beginning..."

With such complaints, it is difficult for the Helan brothers to work together towards Xue Bai, and inevitably they have a mentality of resisting exclusion and looking at jokes.

Helan Jinming took a step back in horror and rubbed his eyes.

"There are rebels in the north!"

"The rebels' food route was cut off, and they encountered Gao Xianzhi's army in Luoyang. With no way to advance or retreat, Anlu Mountain had no other choice but to turn back to Fanyang to consolidate itself." Xue Bai said loudly: "We are blocking the way. They blocked the way for the rebels to return north, so they were anxious. First they used fake human heads as a threat to deceive the city gates into opening. Now they even sent the generals out. All we have to do is to hold on behind closed doors, and then the rebels will collapse. By then everyone will If you have merit, you will be given the title of wife and son, and it goes without saying that you will be generously rewarded!"

Yan Gaoqing pointed to the three boxes in front of him and said, "Give them a body."

"Luoyang is lost, and Shi Siming's troops are approaching the city. I'm afraid your plan has been defeated, right?" Yan Gaoqing asked.

"Who is coming?"

As the governor of Beihai, he had some knowledge of An Lushan and Shi Siming. It is believed that An Lushan's talent is more reflected in the word "deception". In his early years, he pleased Zhang Shougui, and later the saint, and he was often able to coax the leaders of various tribes into circles. But when it comes to marching and fighting, Shi Siming is a more terrifying person than An Lushan.

Seeing such a rebel general leading his army to kill in front of him, Helan Jinming rushed to Xue Bai and asked: "Did you expect this situation? Can the imperial court really have reinforcements?!"

The movement seemed to come from the sky. It was very noisy and never stopped. It was like putting thousands of troops in a box and covering their ears.

The light was too dark and the thread was difficult to thread. Xue Bai put the end of the thread in his mouth and wet it, and continued to pass through the eye of the needle. He said in his mouth: "I arranged an ambush on the way from Yanshi to Luoyang, just outside the White Horse Temple. Not far away is the official road, where the rebels must pass. I thought I could stop the rebels from attacking Luoyang and buy time, but now it seems that it is not going well. "

"Why bother?"

Xue Bai was very busy when the enemy was facing him, but he still said: "Let me help."

"how?"

Just look at a small incident in Shi Siming's youth to know his talent. He was once captured by Xi Ren's territory, so he pretended to be an envoy of the Tang Dynasty and made King Xi believe him with his magnanimity. Later, he even took Xi people with him A famous general of the People's Republic of China went to pay homage to the Emperor. After arriving at Pinglu, he sacrificed him and three hundred elite Xi people as prisoners. Not only did he save his life, but he also made a great contribution.

The heads of Li Ji, Lu Yi, and Jiang Qing were placed in the box. If this matter spread, the soldiers would know that these three people were really dead.

Sometimes they would think of Pingyuan City being breached and Xue Bai being completely defeated. The pleasure this brought them actually outweighed their fear of the rebels.

They hope that more soldiers can see through Xue Bai's hypocrisy and incompetence, wake up, recommend Helan Jinming as the leader of the alliance, and give orders to Hebei.

After threading the needle and thread, he opened a wooden box and took out Lu Yi's head. Lu Yi's eyes looked very bright, and his expression of angrily scolding the traitor after being bound was still lifelike. He reached out and flicked it, trying to make Lu Yi shut up. Eyes, but the eyelids quickly opened again.

"Luoyang fell so quickly. You don't need to look at it to know that there must be a lot of officials in the city who have abandoned the city and fled, and there are even more people who have succumbed to thieves. How many people are loyal and upright when the country is in danger? I have no choice but to deny it. They didn't even dare to erect a tombstone for them, so they buried them hastily. How guilty did they feel that they could only dig up their bodies with their own hands? "

Amidst the rustling sounds, Xue Bai stepped forward and saw Yan Gaoqing wrapping the thatch one by one.

This time Xue Bai did not blame Helan Jinming for shaking the morale of the army, because Helan Jinming was not the only one who was panicking at this time. The generals of Pingyuan County were temporarily persuaded by Yan Gaoqing to join the imperial court, and their determination was not firm enough.

"My father-in-law, what is this?"

Helan Jinming was stunned. If he hadn't personally confirmed the head of Li Xin left behind in Luoyang, he would have almost believed Xue Bai's.

"Wujiu will know after seeing it."

The next day, they saw Xue Bai standing at the top of the city seriously discussing the specific matters of defending the city with Yan Gaoqing. They looked on coldly and thought, "Shu Zi really thinks that he is the leader of the traitor alliance. How can he be so good? That is Yan Gaoqing." In order to cling to the imperial concubine, you are willing to be shy and listen to a young man's random orders." When they saw Xue Bai encouraging the soldiers, they thought, "Shu Zi is pretending again, and sooner or later everyone will betray their relatives and leave."

After that, he also sat down, helped tie up a thatched body, picked up the needle and thread, and pierced the hole by the candlelight.

……

"Report, there are rebels coming from the east!"

Helan Jinming rode to the southwest of the city and found that the banner of the rebel general was very close.

Xue Bai then followed Yan Quanming quietly. When he arrived, he saw that there were only a few candles lit in the hall, and the light was dim. Yan Gaoqing was sitting in front of the candlelight, with his back looking a little rickety, and piles of straw placed beside him.

Shi Siming only revealed his last name, but the morale of the defenders was already shaken.

"Shi...it's not Shi Siming who's here, right?"

Xue Bai then began to sew, carefully sewing the head and the straw man together.

However, Xue Bai actually showed joy on his face, raised his hand and said loudly: "Did you see it? The rebels are fleeing back to Fan Yang!"

The rebel forces were much larger than he expected. He originally thought that if he was defeated in the end, he could withdraw from Pingyuan City, but now they were surrounded on all sides, and even the retreat was blocked.

Before Xue Bai could speak, Yan Gaoqing added: "Don't worry, I didn't lie to anyone. No one else will know about this. I did it quietly."

This was the first night of Shi Siming's army siege, and the morale of Pingyuan soldiers was relatively stable for the time being.

Finally, before Pingyuan City could repair its defenses, a large group of rebels moved toward Pingyuan City from far and near, accompanied by dust and smoke, and surrounded Pingyuan City.

In the middle of the night, Xue Bai went down to the top of the city. He didn't meet Yan Gaoqing, so he walked to the government office. When he entered, Yan Quanming came out and said in a low voice: "Master is in the backyard."

The flag was billowing in the wind. He tried his best to keep his eyes wide open for a while, and finally saw clearly that it was a big "History".

Helan Jinming hurriedly rode his horse on the top of the city and arrived at the northeast corner of the city wall. He looked around and his heart sank.

"Thanks to these years of preparation, my private army should not be weak. It has attracted many veterans from Longyou and Jiannan, and led refugees to practice. There are 1,652 people, and the equipment is also well-equipped. Maybe. It was because there was no good general to command, and maybe there were other problems. But I have to admit that Luoyang fell much faster than I expected. To answer my father-in-law’s question, the first plan did fail. "

Yan Gaoqing asked: "Then why are you still here? Why don't you retreat to Tumen Pass?"

"The first plan failed. There are several other plans." Xue Bai said, "And they must be here to support you."

He didn't want Yan Gaoqing to be left alone and helpless. This seemed to be a strange obsession. Therefore, he even enjoyed the time of sitting side by side with Yan Gaoqing sewing the corpse.

"Any other plans?"

"For example, Dugu Wensu and Li Shiyu contacted An Lushan's officials in the rear and got several good responses. Fan Yang's Liujun Jia Xun and Pinglu's general Liu Kenu both sent people to contact them and expressed their opinions. I am willing to lead Fan Yang and Yu Yang to submit."

For such an important matter, Xue Bai spoke in a normal tone while sewing the head, tying the knot, and arranging Lu Yi's hair.

Yan Gaoqing was a little excited after hearing this, and said, "In this case, maybe the rebellion can be put down as soon as possible?"

"If they want to surrender, it's hard to say how many people they can win over. The key depends on whether the court can restore its prestige." Xue Bai said: "Just like the situation we faced in the plains, as long as the court makes a concerted effort, our military morale will decline. It makes a big difference.”

With that said, he took out the head of Li Xin who was left behind in Luoyang and placed it in front of Yan Gaoqing, letting him feel Li Xin's anger and unwillingness.

"Ugh."

Xue Bai threaded the needle again to attract the money, but failed to pass it through at once, so he said a little irritably.

"So it has long been said that the saint is hopelessly fatuous. How can the rebellion be quelled unless this kind of emperor is replaced?"

Yan Gaoqing stopped what he was doing and felt the novelty of criticizing Chengyu.

That is to say, he was surrounded by enemy troops in an isolated city and didn't know whether he could survive. That's why he didn't say anything to Xue Bai.

"My father-in-law doesn't believe it now, but sooner or later he will understand that the world needs a new king to have any hope."

~~
An Lushan himself did not expect to capture Luoyang City so quickly.

With hesitation, he waited for more than ten days after Tian Chengsi captured Luoyang before he finally entered the city. At this time, Gao Xianzhi had already rushed to Shaanxi County, and almost all the resisting forces in Luoyang City had been eliminated.

As for the surrendered officials, they had already been taken to Longmen to visit Anlu Mountain, and this time they were leading the way in front of the car.

"Da Xi Xun."

An official in green robe turned around and saw that he was actually Da Xixun, the former minister of the Ministry of Personnel. But it has completely lost the official prestige and etiquette of the past. It has gone through many vicissitudes of life, and there is a sense of loneliness in his expression.

An Lushan was very happy. With a move of his fat hand, he was moved to the side of the car. Both of them used to be under Li Linfu's sect and were quite familiar with each other. An Lushan would give gifts to Da Xixun every time he came to Beijing.

"Is it really you? Why are you wearing this green robe?" "Greetings to Mr. Fu." Da Xixun did not forget to bow first, and with a flattering smile on his face, he said: "Jun Hui, I was demoted a few years ago. First, he was demoted to Xianzhou Biejia, and after arranging relationships and dissipating his family wealth, he was finally transferred back to Luoyang. "

An Lushan became interested and asked: "How did you get demoted? Tell me quickly."

"It's because of the assassination case in Lishan..."

Da Xixun recounted his grievances with a bitter face. He lost a son and was demoted because of that incident. It was indeed very miserable. After hearing this, An Lushan blinked his eyes and asked, "So, you were harmed by Xue Bai?"

"Exactly."

We had a good relationship with each other before. Because of this incident, An Lushan got closer to Da Xixun psychologically. He said with emotion: "Juro always praised your talents back then. I remember that you were doing a lot of official work at that time?"

"Jun Huifu, yes, being a low-ranking official is a hard life."

An Lushan laughed, pointed at the green official robe on Da Xixun, and asked, "Would you like to change this green robe into a purple robe?"

Da Xixun was so surprised that he quickly bowed down and thanked him.

The team entered Luoyang City. Although it had been looted by the rebels, the prosperity of the Eastern Capital was still staggering.

An Lushan's car drove through Nancheng, crossed the bridge directly, and headed towards Ziwei Palace.

Before making this decision, Zhang Tongru suggested that he go to Hanjiacang first. Because the world's food was gathered in Hanjiacang, after Tian Chengsi captured Luoyang, he did not dare to touch Hanjiacang even if he sent troops to loot. Instead, he sent heavy troops to guard them and waited for An Lushan to personally count them.

Of course, this matter is not urgent. Now the rebels have a lot of things to do, and they are not short of food for the time being, so they can take their time.

After walking for a while, the palace city was in sight.

"I haven't been to Luoyang Palace yet, but I often go to Chang'an Palace." An Lushan looked far ahead with longing in his eyes, but his words were still rustic, "Chang'an Palace is in the middle, how can Luoyang Palace be shrunk? In the northwest corner?”

The rebel generals could not answer this question, so Da Xixun quickly said: "This Ziwei Palace was built by Yu Wenkai in the Sui Dynasty. Because the terrain of Luoyang is higher in the west and lower in the east, and the northwest corner is the highest point in the city, the palace city was chosen here. , you can overlook Luoyang from a high place.”

"Hahaha, that's it."

An Lushan laughed and suddenly raised his fat body and wanted to sit up on the carriage.

He had been suffering from severe foot pain recently, and now he had even forgotten about the pain in his feet. His eyes were as wide as mung beans, and he was staring at Yingtianmen in front of him.

"Go in the middle."

The long-shuttered main gate of the palace was rarely opened. The royal road in the middle was wide and extraordinary. It was a road that only saints could walk. The courtiers could only walk on both sides, so they were naturally inferior to saints.

At this moment, An Lushan forgot his so-called "Qingjun side" name and made no secret of his ambition.

Although he often felt that he could not do it and often gave up because of fear of the saint, now all risks were gone and his heart was filled with greed for power and status.

In the past, people always called him a "bastard", which bothered him very much, so he would get angry when Ge Shuhan said, "It is unlucky for a fox to howl in a cave."

He obviously worked hard to become the Jiedushi of two towns and the king of Dongping County from a humble bastard, but many people still looked down on him and ridiculed him because of his life experience. He wanted to see who would have such courage if he became the emperor?

The carriage galloped through the royal road, but it was just like that. It could neither fly nor appreciate the exquisite stone carvings of Anlu Mountain on the ground.

But when he looked sideways, he saw that all the ministers were entering from the side doors on both sides. No one dared to violate the rules. Even people like Da Xixun, who had a higher official position than him, were respectful.

At this moment, he knew that he and they were divided into two types of people. The difference between the emperor and his ministers was as big as gods and humans.

Encountering Chibi ahead, Da Xixun called the palace servants to bring the imperial chariot over, and thoughtfully arranged for twice the number of strong men.

These warriors were all eunuchs who had passed away. They were all tall and tall, twice as big as Li Zhuer. They were still panting from exhaustion while carrying An Lushan.

"what is that?!"

An Lushan finally raised his head and stared at the tall domed building in front of him, refusing to move his eyes anymore.

In fact, he saw it from a distance. At first he thought it was a pavilion on Mang Mountain, but when he saw it up close, he was immediately fascinated by its beauty and magnificence.

"Back to the king, that is the Mingtang."

Da Xixun carefully climbed up the steps next to him, walked closer to Anlu Mountain, and continued to introduce him.

"In the spring of the third year of Chuigong, Empress Wu demolished the Qianyuan Hall and built the Mingtang Hall here. It took nearly two years to complete and was named 'Wanxiang Palace'. It was later destroyed once due to arson by Xue Huaiyi and rebuilt the following year, named 'Tongtian Palace'. Please see, Your Majesty, the Mingtang is two hundred and ninety-four feet high, and only one pillar is used in it..."

"A pillar with such a high top?!" An Lushan exclaimed.

"Exactly." Da Xixun stroked his long beard and sighed with emotion, and then said: "Your Majesty, can you see the fire beads on the top? It was originally a golden phoenix. The so-called 'iron phoenix enters the clouds, and the golden dragon hides in the mist', which means Proclaimed emperor for Empress Wu, now..."

"The fire beads are great!" An Lushan was very excited and wanted to say something, but he was not talented enough so he had to repeat: "The fire beads are great! It's fire and it's a pig."

Da Xixun has a lot to say about Mingtang. From the structural layout to the painted decoration, every detail has too much ingenuity.

An Lushan couldn't understand this, but he could intuitively feel its benefits and praised: "It's amazing! Emperor Zetian is more courageous than a saint!"

At this moment, he felt a sense of awe and yearning for Wu Zetian.

He stared at the majestic Luoyang Palace City, and an idea began to grow stronger in his heart.

Entering the Mingtang, the interior is huge and open, with an imperial couch placed in the most eye-catching position.

An Lushan stared straight at it when he saw it, and asked the warriors to move him to the imperial couch without any hesitation. He found that it was completely enough to accommodate his fat body. It can be seen that the emperor's seat is the most suitable for him, and all other seats can be used. No less.

In fact, he had been suffering from illness recently, and when he was forced to raise troops to rebel this time, he thought that since he was in pain, he might as well fight vigorously. He didn't expect it to go so smoothly. If he could become emperor again, it would be more worthwhile.

So, he twisted his buttocks and didn't intend to get up again.

Everyone understood An Lushan's intention to proclaim himself emperor, and they were all following him in rebellion, so of course they would not object. Many people wanted to persuade him to come in, but they didn't know the timing, so they all looked at Zhang Tongru.

Zhang Tongru was thinking that Tian Chengsi was chasing Gao Xianzhi, and was worried that proclaiming himself emperor would delay the war. During his hesitation, Da Xixun spoke first.

"Today, the saint is fatuous, favoring treacherous and sycophants, imposing excessive taxes, and the people are in dire straits. The king has revitalized the brigade, punished crimes, and punished people. His merits are in the world. I invite the prince of Dongping County to pay attention to Li Yuan and restore the rule of law..."

In the palace, the people who encouraged An Lushan to rebel saw that Da Xixun, the prisoner, had taken the lead at the last moment, and they suddenly felt dissatisfied, but they could not object at this time, so they had to persuade them to come in.

An Lushan, who used to be irritable in the past, was so happy that he rubbed his hands, but even he knew that persuading Jin could not be agreed to for the first time, so it was difficult for him to do so.

"Is anyone dissatisfied with my becoming emperor?"

Da Xixun said: "Your Majesty has just entered Luoyang, and I'm afraid that people's hearts are not yet stable. Why don't I call on some elders and monks in Luoyang to listen to their voices? What do you think, Your Majesty?"

An Lushan laughed out loud at first, then suppressed his smile, imitating Li Longji, and said, "Yes."

The very next day, a group of senior monks were introduced into the palace by Da Xixun.

The leader was a Taoist priest with an extremely outstanding temperament and great arrogance. He did not even greet An Lushan when he saw him. He looked at An Lushan with his pair of phoenix eyes quite rudely, but shook his head.

"Why is the Taoist shaking his head?"

"The Prince of Dongping County is ill and is not suitable to proclaim himself emperor for the time being."

An Lushan was dissatisfied and surprised. He tried a few words, but he didn't expect that the Taoist priest actually explained his illness clearly.

He was unavoidably surprised and asked with some hope: "Does the Taoist priest have a forensic doctor for me?"

Having said that, if the Taoist priest really prescribed the medicine, he would not take it easily.

But I saw the Taoist priest take out a square scarf from his sleeve, took a look at it, and said, "I took it by mistake."

Then, without seeing how he moved, with a wave of his hand, the square scarf turned into a cloth bag, and everyone in the hall couldn't help but exclaimed.

"This is the Xingyang bag. The Prince of Dongping County tied it under his crotch. It will take effect in two days."

"Can I give it a try on my behalf?" An Qingxu immediately stepped out.

The old Taoist nodded slightly, closed his eyes and didn't answer, which was considered as consent.

Da Xixun asked again: "What about the title control?"

"Wait for the poor Taoist and count the hours." The old Taoist turned around, raised his head, and looked at Mingtang with squinted eyes.

Under the high bright hall, each of them looks so small...

(End of this chapter)