Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 444 Internal Response
"boom!"

"No!"

An Lushan woke up suddenly, his eyes widened, but his vision was blurry.

The dim firelight came very close, and he could see clearly that it was Li Zhuer who was holding an oil lamp and stepping forward.

"Sage, what's wrong?"

"Shh, shut up."

An Lushan listened carefully, and sure enough he heard a "rumbling" explosion.

He hurriedly got off the bed and was about to leave. When his ulcerated foot stepped on the ground, he felt a sharp pain. He then gave Li Zhuer a hard slap and cursed, "Why don't you help me?!"

"Yes Yes."

Li Zhuer quickly put down the oil lamp, called for two servants, and tried his best to carry the heavy body of more than 300 kilograms to the palace door. Because he has been carrying An Lushan like this all year round, his lumbar spine is very bad. At first it was just pain, but now it is accompanied by a strong stabbing pain. This kind of back pain kept him from sleeping well all night. In addition, he was on duty to keep watch for An Lushan. The inability to sleep all year round made him extremely exhausted. Although he was only twenty years old, he looked like he was in his forties.

He didn't tell An Lushan about this before, which was unlucky.

In the middle of the night, Yan Zhuang had already fallen asleep, looking very haggard. Tian Gan was indeed a young man. Although he was seriously injured, his eyes were still shining, like a dog ready to catch a mouse for its master at any time.

"Still there?"

"It was the first year of Zhengsheng, on the 16th day of the first lunar month, Xue Huaiyi, the face of the empress, was resentful because he could not win favors in the Yuan Dynasty. He set fire to the heaven. The heaven collapsed and hit the Mingtang, and the fire spread. According to legend, The fire burned until dawn, burning the sacred capital of Luoyang like daylight, and turning the heaven and the bright hall into ashes. "

"Yes." Yan Zhuang sighed, "Compared to the combat power of our officers and soldiers, what is more dangerous right now is our military morale. We dare not hide it from the saint. People's hearts are indeed floating now."

The lights in the hall were dim. Strangely, An Lushan didn't get angry because of this, but just walked forward. After walking for several steps, Li Zhuer realized that An Lushan's eyes were almost broken.

"No! Don't kill me..."

Tian Qianzhen said: "Zhu Xicai is in Xue Bai's army, and there may not be another Zhu Xicai in Luoyang City. Even before the saint entered Luoyang, there is no guarantee that he did not deploy people in advance."

"What does this mean?" Yan Zhuang said, "I don't believe that Xue Bai can break into Luoyang City and destroy Mingtang."

Blood flowed all over his body, making him wet. Then, he seemed to hear Yang Lie mumbling to himself. By some strange coincidence, he put his ear to Yang Lie's mouth in the pool of blood.

Yan Zhuang didn't know what to say, he thought to himself that you, the Zoroastrian Cult, have been clamoring all day long to use the bright holy fire to burn away the evil in the world, so why should you be afraid of a fool?
Tian Qianzhen remained silent. After listening to these conversations, he looked back and said, "This dream of the saint may be an omen."

"I will definitely supervise and stabilize the morale of the military."

The two hurriedly entered the palace and saw the ceremony. Yan Zhuang saw An Lushan's face covered with sweat and asked, "Sage, has something happened?"

An Lushan's eyes were not focused, but his murderous intent was not diminished, and he shouted: "I want you to kill everyone in Luoyang City who may surrender to Xue Bai! Kill, kill, kill!"

After that, he lifted Yang Lie's body and covered himself. It was heavy, but it made him feel at ease, thinking that the rebels would not kill him.

The sound of "rumbling" was still coming, and finally reaching the door, An Lushan raised his head and looked out.

"This……"

After hearing this, An Lushan realized that the two high halls in the palace were too high. If either one collapsed, it might hit him, and he couldn't help but be horrified.

"The grain stored in the Yi warehouse is taken from the people and used for disaster relief. As for the Hanjia warehouse, it is for national war preparation. How dare you plunder it all just to serve one person?"

Yan Zhuang asked: "I wonder how it collapsed?"

"Xue Huaiyi? Face-to-face? Could it be that Xue Baimo is the reincarnation of this person and wants to burn down the hall again?"

Yan Zhuang originally wanted to offer some words of advice, but then he thought about it: a person's legs are rotten, his back is rotten, and his eyes are starting to rot. He is suffering from such pain and still can not go completely crazy. He has a very commendable perseverance. How can it be possible to persuade him to be calm?

"It came from outside the city?" An Lushan repeated it again, finally recovering from the panic and said: "Go and call Yan Zhuang and A Hao."

The Tang army made sneak attacks every night, trying to blow open the city gate with explosives. Although they failed several times, the movement brought great deterrence to the rebels in Luoyang City. Now the rebels were panicking, and Li Zhuer was actually very scared in his heart. , I just didn’t dare to reveal it in front of An Lushan.

"No, Xue Bai is good at using explosives, even though his momentum is huge." Yan Zhuang responded, glanced at Tian Qianzhen's severed hand, and continued: "However, if you want to use explosives, you always need to light the fuse, which is cumbersome and easy to use. Be prepared. Besides, we have reinforced the city gate, so he will definitely not be able to get in."

An Lushan first asked: "With this movement outside the city, Xue Bai won't come in, right?"

An Lushan rubbed his eyes. With great difficulty, he could vaguely see the two high halls standing under the starry sky. He couldn't help but become confused and murmured: "Where is the thunder coming from?"

As if he had heard a ghost story, An Lushan shrank his head and lost sight of his already short neck. He exclaimed: "He can really do this?"

"kill!"

~~
It's night, and Da Xixun is also caught in a nightmare.

He accidentally fell asleep and went back to the day when he worshiped Anlu Mountain at Qianyuan Gate. Human life is not even as good as the pigs and sheep in the slaughterhouse. As he ran away, he stepped on the intestines of Yang Lie, the minister of household affairs in Liutai, and slipped to the ground.

Li Zhuer listened for a while and responded: "Sage, that sound is so far away. It must have come from outside the city."

"I'm not urging you. I must kill those who intend to harm me." An Lushan gritted his teeth and emphasized.

An Lushan suddenly became angry and yelled: "That was a dream! You ask me how it exploded. Do I know? He just raised his hand and exploded. How do you treat him?!"

Yan Zhuang received a lesson, lowered his head and thought for a while, then said: "The Mingtang was indeed destroyed once."

"Sage, the bright hall is still there." Li Zhuer looked around and saw that although there was no one in the heaven and the bright hall, the lights were still burning, which was really beautiful.

"Although he can't." Tian Qianzhen gently touched his face with his remaining hand, and said slowly with a painful lesson: "But what if he instigated the generals in the city?"

"I had a dream." An Lushan was still a little frightened when he mentioned this, and murmured: "I dreamed that on the day I ascended the throne, Xue Bai suddenly came and blew up the entire Mingtang."

"Yes!" Tian Qianzhen agreed immediately.

"Is the Mingtang destroyed?"

"Here!"

Hearing this, Da Xixun suddenly remembered.

That year, Wei Jian mobilized a hundred large ships from Luoyang in order to gain power; Li Linfu, in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of increasing revenue and reducing expenditure, mobilized another 200 ships; Wang Jian reported that the money and grain he presented to the saint did not come from taxes; and later Yang Shenjin The three brothers...and Ta Xixun, who paid 20,000 yuan from Henan Prefecture in the name of setting up a farm in Shaanxi County for a saint in order to offer relics to his mother.

In the same year, there was a flood in Henan, and the charity warehouse could no longer provide food. They worked together to suppress the matter. Xu Zheng, the No. 1 scholar in Guiyouke and the supervisory censor, reported the incident. They used Du Youlin's case to demote Xu Zheng to the position of Prime Minister of Jinjiang County, Quanzhou. After that, it was he who arranged for people to go to Jinjiang County to kill Xu Zheng. Throwing corpses into the sea.

In the case of Du Youlin, Du Youlin was not dead, but they killed thirty-seven people in the court who dared to speak out.

In the pool of blood, Naliutai's minister of household affairs was still mumbling.

"You are destroying the foundation of the country for your own selfishness. You can't hide it from the saints, and God is aware of it. What you do will definitely be punished by God!"

Da Xixun thought to himself, can he hide it from a saint?

No, the saint knows.

They were all collected for the saint. How could the saint not know? The imperial edict to demote Xu Zheng was issued by the saint himself.

Divine punishment? Anyway, I didn’t see it.

With this thought in his mind, Da Xixun suddenly saw a rebel with a face as hideous as a ghost rushing towards him, slashing at him with a knife...

"No!"

He woke up suddenly and sat up on the couch, only to find that his whole body was soaked with sweat. It was just a dream, because the Minister of Household Affairs who stayed in Taiwan was not Yang Lie at all. Yang Lie was an official who died because he was unwilling to cooperate with them.

The night was still very long, and Da Xixun didn't dare to fall asleep again, for fear of accidentally returning to that hell, so he got up and made tea alone, tasting the bitter taste.

At this point, it was a pity that the countless treasures collected in the past were completely useless.

suddenly.

There was a movement in the front yard, but no one reported it. A group of people had already broken into the yard.

Although he had known that this day would come, Da Xixun still shook his hand and splashed tea all over his crotch.

Yan Zhuang entered, looked around, and ordered the followers behind him: "Go and search."

"Here."

"Da Xi Gong is so elegant that he stayed up late at night and was still drinking tea." Yan Zhuang sat down opposite Da Xi Xun and said: "I still remember that in the sixth year of Tianbao, I was just an official, and you are already the chief official of the Ministry of Personnel. Now I can Are you qualified to sit across from you?”

"Please be kind to me, I don't know why you came here so late at night. What are you doing?"

"I suspect you are colluding with Xue Bai."

Da Xixun shook his head and said: "Really not."

Yan Zhuang said: "It seems that if you don't need punishment, you won't be able to do anything?"

Da Xixun was horrified and murmured: "I am a surrendered minister. If you treat a surrendered minister like this, you will be unpopular."

"Can you still care about this?"

Yan Zhuang held the tea cup and took a sip. His mouth was full of tea foam, which made him look a little bitter. He didn't speak again for a long time, waiting for the results of the search.

The court had been very quiet. Seeing that no one could find anything, Da Xixun felt relieved, thinking that he would be fine.

However, someone suddenly came over carrying a package with soil and said, "Prime Minister Yan, dug this out."

"Dig?" Da Xixun was shocked and said anxiously: "How could you... wow!"

Yan Zhuang casually poured the hot tea from the cup onto Da Xixun's face, took the package, and opened it. I saw some soft gold and silver inside, a large pile of flying coins, a small bag of wound medicine, and a few letters.

I opened the envelopes and read them one by one. Most of them were replies to Da Xixun from important officials of the imperial court. Among them was a letter from home, with beautiful handwriting, telling some things about Chang'an, saying that someone had sent someone to bring a gift to Grandpa, and it should have been written by his daughter. In addition, there is also a handwriting written by Feng Da Xi Xun. He must have been unable to send it out when the city fell, but it was a sign of flattery to Yang Guozhong.

Suddenly, a piece of paper fell out. When I picked it up, I saw that it was a very old detailed map of Ziwei Palace. It clearly marked the patrol routes of the guards and even the paths between the walls that the palace people used. Yan Zhuang looked at it, opened the medicine bottles, smelled them carefully, and poured out the contents of several porcelain bottles. Some of them were elixirs, but one bottle contained what looked like water, but the smell of wine was extremely strong. That was the wine that Xue Bai's generals used to pour their wounds. He had seen it outside Shiling Pass. Then I opened one of the packages of medicinal materials. The smell was pungent. I licked it and found that it was indeed gunpowder.

"Take it away."

"Prime Minister Yan? I was wronged! These are just for self-defense."

Yan Zhuang didn't answer with a cold face, and said to his soldiers: "Remember what he said now, and we will see what he says after the severe punishment."

..."I'll recruit."

Half an hour later, Da Xixun sat on the torture instrument of "donkey colt pulling out a prong", with tears streaming down his face, and murmured: "Before the city of Luoyang was destroyed, I did meet Yanshi County's Prime Minister Yan Chunqing."

"Yan Chunqing? What is the relationship between this person and Yan Zhenqing and Yan Gaoqing?"

Now, Yan Zhenqing is a marching commander under Ge Shuhan, blocking the main force of the rebels from Tongguan. Yan Gaoqing led his troops to Yongqiu to prevent the rebels from plundering Jianghuai. Both brothers are serious enemies of the rebels. Therefore, when Yan Zhuang heard this name, he immediately became vigilant.

"He and the two of them are brothers in the clan."

Yan Zhuang said: "That is also Xue Bai's in-law, Ren Yanshi County Magistrate... What did he say to you?"

"I didn't talk to him, really." Da Xixun said: "I just saw him leading hundreds of local warriors to Luoyang for support, and stayed with Gao Xianzhi for two days. By the way, they also He brought dozens of carts of luggage."

"Hundreds of people support Luoyang and bring baggage? What could it be?" Yan Zhuang said.

Da Xixun panicked and said, "It must be gunpowder. Oh, I bought those items from one of Yan Chunqing's men for self-defense."

"What about the dozens of carts of gunpowder?"

"I don't know. Mr. Yan, believe me, I've told you everything I know."

At this point, Yan Zhuang could no longer trust Da Xi Xun, and said coldly: "You must have colluded with Xue Bai. Who asked you to take out the map of the palace city?"

"No, there was no collusion. The map had been in my office before, and I accidentally put it in when I was packing up my belongings."

Yan Zhuang then asked people to torture him again.

Terrible screams immediately filled the cell. Da Xixun could not bear the punishment, so he had to confess. His voice was weak and intermittent, but in order to avoid being punished, he still tried his best to speak more.

"In my early years, I adopted an adopted daughter named Da Xi Yingying. She was originally enshrined in the Shou King Li Xuan. Later, for some reason, this daughter hooked up with Xue Bai."

"So, you can barely be regarded as Xue Bai's father-in-law, just like Yan Zhenqing and Yan Gaoqing?"

"No." Da Xixun was so shocked that he shook his hands repeatedly, "No, no, no, after Da Xi Yingying took refuge with Xue Bai, she severed all ties with me and turned against me. My son Da Xifu was killed by Xue Bai..."

"Not yet."

"Recruit, after I was demoted, no one was willing to lend a helping hand. Da Xi Yingying sent someone to find me and arranged for me to return to Luoyang for retirement, saying that he was repaying the kindness of raising me."

Yan Zhuang said: "She asked you to work for Xue Bai?"

"No, just let me build momentum for Qing Wang Li Cong. In the past year, although the court was controlled by Yang Guozhong, secretly, Xue Bai used Li Cong's name as the crown prince, and used banks and newspapers as tentacles to win over many state and county officials, border officials and border officials. General, I have always been ordered to do these things..."

Da Xixun hesitated, and then he was willing to confess honestly. It turned out that he had really joined King Qing's group. As for the revenge for killing his son that he repeatedly preached, in fact Xue Bai only defrauded Da Xifu. Da Xifu died because he was involved in the Lishan assassination case. In the officialdom, in the face of real interests, he would not No matter the small grudges of the past.

When the real judge found out that Da Xixun was actually Xue Bai's man, Yan Zhuang was a little surprised. Thinking about the influence of the bank and the newspaper, he already felt a little scary.

"Tell me! Who else in Luoyang City belongs to Xue Bai's family?"

"Zhongcheng Lu Yi stayed in Taiwan as censor." Da Xixun said: "It was through his connections that Da Xi Yingying transferred me back to Luoyang."

Yan Zhuang recalled that when Luoyang was captured, Lu Yi was killed because he was unwilling to surrender and cursed An Lushan.

"Lu Yi's official position is not low, why was he attracted by you?"

"For long-term considerations, I respect the prince. Furthermore, Lu Yi very much agrees with Xue Bai's strategy of reviving the prince."

"Ha." Yan Zhuang sneered.

In the past, he only focused on rebellion, but never thought about how to govern the country after success. Recently, he has been thinking about how to eliminate the scourge of the Tang Dynasty. Of course, this is by no means an easy task, and given An Lushan's current situation, he simply can't care about it.

"What can he do to revive it?"

“To put it simply, we need to re-examine the acres of land, simplify the tax system, cancel miscellaneous taxes, levy taxes based on the number of acres and houses, and levy money instead of property. In addition, levy commercial taxes, increase the number of imperial examinations, and reduce the number of family members...the content is It is so complicated that it contains nine volumes and tens of thousands of words, packed in a large wooden box, and cannot be described in a single word."

"Where is the box?"

"In the hands of Lu Yi, or in his house, or at the Yushitai in Luoyang."

Yan Zhuang turned around and shouted: "Go find it!"

When he looked back, he thought of the time when he met Xue Bai. It was in a wine shop outside the Imperial Academy. Xue Bai behaved very calmly together with several contemporary eminent scholars.

Although he did not admit it, he knew in his heart that Xue Bai was more capable than himself, and he was indeed willing to take a look at the national policies proposed by such a person. Unfortunately, An Lushan massacred thousands of officials in Luoyang. It would be difficult for the Yan Dynasty to change in a short period of time.

"Continue to recruit. Among the Luoyang elders you recommended to the saint, is there any hidden secret from Xue Bai?"

"No."

"Do you still want to continue being tortured?"

"I said, I tell the truth." Da Xixun said: "They don't trust me. I really don't know if there are any of them in Luoyang City... Maybe there are, but I am also being used."

Yan Zhuang still lets people use torture to help him think of something again.

"Prime Minister Yan! Please believe me. Even if there is an insider in the city, the person in charge must not be me. They can't trust me. This is really the truth!"

The torture this time did not make Da Xixun reveal anything more. Until he was dying, he did not come up with anything new to confess. In the end, he just trembled his lips and murmured two words in a low voice.

"God's damnation."

"what?"

"We have destroyed the foundation of the country, and it will destroy us."

Da Xixun recalled the dream he had tonight, and only then did he realize that the consequences of today had been sown long ago. The scoldings of those persecuted officials sounded ridiculous at the time, but now they have finally come true.

Even saints cannot escape, because saints are the culprits...

Over there, Yan Zhuang left the execution room and without thinking much, he directly named the next person he wanted to arrest.

"Let's go find Li Xiazhou."

~~
Northwest of Luoyang City, Xuanhui Gate.

Because the imperial palace in Luoyang is not in the middle, but in the northwest corner, you only need to break through this city gate to enter Ziwei Palace.

Tonight, Xue Bai suddenly attacked Xuanhui Gate and blew open the city gate with explosives, scaring the rebel generals into panic.

Fortunately, there was a separate city within the city gate, and a city gate within the other city. The rebels had a large number of troops and were heavily guarded, and they could not let the Tang army rush in.

Since the war, An Shouzhong has not been able to sleep at night. He was playing dominoes tonight by burning the midnight oil. Hearing the news, he rushed over all night and ordered his guards to block the city gate at all costs.

"General, Xue Bai has handed you a letter."

In the chaos, a general quietly thrust an arrow letter into An Shouzhong's hand. When he opened it and looked at it, his face suddenly sank.

This time, Xue Bai's tone was much harsher than last time, with threats in his words, saying that there were not many opportunities left for An Shouzhong to abandon the dark side and turn to the bright side. If Luoyang City was captured by Wang Shi, An Shouzhong would be killed. The whole family will be executed for serious crimes.

"Fuck it!"

An Shouzhong cursed angrily at first, but thought that Xue Bai had already broken the door tonight. If they break through again next time and the rebel forces cannot stop it, then Luoyang will really not be able to defend it.

As a result, he couldn't help but feel a little unsure.

……

As the night deepened, several rows of rockets shot down from the city gate toward the outside of the city. The bright light flashed in the air, shot into the snow, and quickly went out.

A soldier from the Tang Dynasty came here, quickly collected the arrows on the ground, and hurried back to the camp.

Not long after, Jiang Hai rushed into Xue Bai's tent.

Xue Bai was sitting behind the desk in a daze looking at a map. Jiang Hai accidentally took a look and saw that the map was drawn horizontally and vertically. The larger words were "Yuanbi City", "Xuanwu City", "Zuozang Palace" and "Da Nei", which seemed to be a palace city. picture.

"Mr. Lang, there's a letter."

"Give it to me." Xue Bai casually stretched out his hand to take the letter and asked, "Just shot it from the top of the city?"

"Yes."

Xue Bai opened it and saw that it was written by An Shouzhong. The content was very simple, only the seven words "Hui'an Gate at the third watch tomorrow night".

After handing the letter to Jiang Hai to read, Xue Bai asked, "Please tell me what you think."

"The general now understands that the purpose of Lang Jun's sneak attack tonight is not to destroy the city, but to destroy it." Jiang Hai pointed to the map on the table and said: "But even I don't know who gave Lang this There is no other letter from you."

"go on."

"As for An Shouzhong's letter." Jiang Hai pondered and said, "It is indeed the time when he can't bear it anymore. I don't really believe that An Shouzhong has the guts to harm Mr. Lang. Moreover, the detective horse has not yet reached Shaanxi County. The rebels came back for reinforcements.”

"What if the letter was not written by An Shouzhong?"

"How?"

Xue Bai pondered, with a look of worry on his face, and said, "I suspect An Lushan no longer believes in An Shouzhong."

"Then...is this a game?"

"After entering Hui'an Gate, it is neither a palace city nor an imperial city, but Hanjiacang City. If Hanjiacang has no food, it is the best place to set up an ambush. If An Shouzhong really wanted to help me, how could he choose here?"

Jiang Hai rolled his eyes, thought for a while, and asked in a low voice: "Then we can use the trick? Make a move to the east and attack the west?"

"Ah."

By making An Shouzhong suspect, Xue Bai's alienation plan was successful again. With the current situation of the rebels, it can be said that alienation is tried and tested.

But on the other hand, An Lushan is so suspicious that he is afraid that the spy in the city is also in danger now, and Xue Bai must also find a way to save him...

(End of this chapter)