Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 453: Son-in-law Memorial Manuscript
When Li Longji fled, although he gave Li Cong a job to stay in Xijing, he was very cautious and did not order the prince to supervise the country. There is a subtle difference between the two. Therefore, after Li Cong appeased all the officials, he could not live in Xingqing Palace. Moreover, the war was approaching, and Xingqing Palace was close to the east city, which was also very dangerous.

However, Bian Lingcheng, who held the keys to the palace, acted favoritism and invited Li Cong to the Daming Palace at night to meet Yan Zhenqing in the Xuanzheng Hall.

"Mr. Yan!"

Li Cong did not dare to sit on the royal couch, so he had two stools placed on the side of the palace. When Yan Zhenqing entered the palace, he warmly welcomed Yan Zhenqing and pulled him to sit down and talk, thus avoiding any embarrassment in etiquette.

However, Yan Zhenqing refused to sit down and said with a salute: "I have been trusted by Your Majesty to entrust state affairs. Now two hundred thousand troops have been wiped out in one day. I deserve death. Please kill me to appease the anger of the public."

Li Cong originally thought he was just talking, but after some consolation, he discovered that Yan Zhenqing was really willing to die so that he could take the blame for Ge Shuhan and other generals. But he didn't even want to kill his brother Shuhan, and it was too late for him to win over these people, so he used state affairs as an excuse and sternly asked Yan Zhenqing to plead guilty and meritorious service.

Then, his tone quickly returned to politeness and he asked about his biggest concern.

"May I ask Mr. Yan, how long will it take for the rebels to attack? Chang'an does not have any troops at the moment, and the Imperial Army has been taken away by His Majesty."

"Wang Sili, Li Chengguang and other generals are now picking up the remaining troops and trying to hold off the rebels for a while. How long can they hold them back... Your Highness please be prepared to fight at any time."

Li Cong heard these two names and asked doubtfully: "What about General Geshu?"

Yan Zhenqing said: "Brother Shuhan suffered a stroke and his legs and feet were paralyzed. Depending on the situation that day, it may be difficult to evacuate from the battlefield."

Li Cong thought to himself, even the commander-in-chief of the first army was captured by the traitors, what a great impact it would have on the morale of both sides, which also shows the disastrous defeat that day. His mentality turned pessimistic, and the excitement of the prison state subsided.

Then he smelled a stench, and when he looked carefully, he found that it was Yan Zhenqing who was covered in blood and bird droppings.

Yan Zhenqing came all the way without even bothering to wipe the bird droppings that fell on her body, and never rested for a moment.

Feeling Li Cong's gaze, Yan Zhenqing said, "Although I want to die in battle, Wang Sili asked me to return to Chang'an first to contact Xue Baiqinwang. May I ask, Your Highness, do you know the situation in Luoyang?"

"I'm still looking forward to Mr. Yan telling me."

With the rebels separated and the defeat in a hurry, the Tongguan army naturally had no news from Luoyang, so a messenger had to be sent to take a detour from Nanyang to contact them. Li Cong was worried that Xue Bai would not arrive, so he asked Yan Zhenqing to write a personal letter telling him about the critical situation in Chang'an and asking Xue Bai to come to help as soon as possible. This was the third letter asking for help to Luoyang.

During the war, when he saw the beautiful and neat Yan Kai hands, Li Cong felt a calm and determined temperament, as if everything was in order again with each stroke, so an idea came to him spontaneously.

"Mr. Yan should be the prime minister."

Yan Zhenqing put away his pen and was surprised when he heard this.

Li Cong quickly added: "In this critical time of life and death, Mr. Yan must not refuse!"

"Your Highness may not have the right to hold office."

"I'll send my horse to ask for His Majesty's orders."

Yan Zhenqing said: "If Your Highness really wants to protect Chang'an, you should overcome all difficulties and ask Your Majesty to return."

Li Cong just felt a little free and wished Li Longji could escape, but failed to understand the meaning of Yan Zhenqing's words.

Due to his ministerial integrity, Yan Zhenqing could not say much, so he declined Li Cong's offer of an official position and took the post of Yushi Zhongcheng to help guard Chang'an.

Li Cong couldn't figure this out and frowned in thought. When Bian Lingcheng came over again, he quickly realized that he was worried and asked. Li Cong didn't expect the eunuch to be so considerate, so he sighed and told the story.

"I guess, Mr. Yan has misunderstood His Highness's intention."

"what for?"

"He mistakenly thought that His Highness was about to ascend the throne, so he said that His Highness had no right to hold office."

"Ascension to the throne?" Li Cong's reaction at this time was surprise.

Bian Lingcheng said: "He does not agree with His Highness taking the throne now, and thinks it is best to bring back the saint... and administer in the name of the saint."

He put it euphemistically, but it was nothing more than the trick of using the emperor to control the princes.

Li Cong then asked: "Yan Gong is upright and upright. What does this mean?"

"No matter how upright you are, if you can't see the situation clearly, you are pedantic." Bian Lingcheng said: "What's more, when we get to Shu County, won't Yang Guozhong hold the saint hostage?"

Li Cong said nothing. Although he had never thought about ascending the throne, he subconsciously believed that he should ascend the throne. Yan Zhenqing just realized this and exposed it.

"Tell me, how should I ask Mr. Yan to help me?"

Bian Lingcheng responded: "Your Highness should not think about asking Mr. Yan for help, but should use him."

"What's the difference?"

Because he had been with Li Longji for a long time, Bian Lingcheng also knew a little about the way of employing people. He responded: "The power belongs to His Highness. Of course, His Highness can use it as he wishes."

~~
The next day, Li Cong blockaded Chang'an and summoned all officials to the Xuanzheng Hall of the Daming Palace for a court meeting. Despite Yan Zhenqing's refusal, he still forged an imperial edict to transfer Yan Zhenqing to the position of Minister of War, the third rank of the Secretariat, and added the title of Yinqing Guanglu Dafu.

The saint was not in Chang'an, and Yan Zhenqing only returned to the city last night. When the officials heard this, they naturally knew that the edict was false.

Only some people wanted to ask questions, but they pursed their lips but could not speak. Because even so far, the court has never admitted that the saint escaped. If you dare to question, you will inevitably be severely punished for the crime of "shaking the morale of the military."

Yan Zhenqing was stunned and was about to speak, but Li Cong stopped him and immediately reassured him.

"Gong Yan has made contact with Luoyang. Xue Bai is now using Anlu Mountain as hostage to recruit the rebels. He will soon be able to reverse the decline and turn the crisis into peace. The pillar of Duke Yan's country can be relied on as the Great Wall..."

After being pushed to this point, if Yan Zhenqing tried to refuse, it would destroy the confidence everyone had raised, so she had to remain silent. But after he held the so-called imperial edict and unfolded it, it turned out that there was no emperor's seal.

This is obviously not a long-term solution, but for now, Li Cong's words have indeed alleviated the panic caused by the saint's escape to Chang'an City.

Yan Zhenqing was in a hurry to become prime minister, and did not even have time to cut his official robes. He wore the purple robe that Zhang Bian had left behind when he fled Chang'an, and he also took over this mess.

In the next two or three days, order gradually came into being in the city and it was ready for war.

The rebel sentry cavalry also began to appear on the outskirts of Chang'an City, and they could often be seen stationed on horseback and watching from a distance from the top of the city.

Li Cong was very nervous every day, worried that the rebels would suddenly approach the city. He was accustomed to hearing bad news, so when another messenger came to report it, he listened with trepidation.

"After the rebels occupied Tongguan, they did not immediately move westward. They seemed to have sent troops to Luoyang."

"Sure?"

"The villain went to the north bank of the Yellow River to look at the formation and saw with his own eyes a large group of rebels heading east."

Li Cong guessed that he was going to attack Luoyang. Inevitably, his tense heartstrings suddenly relaxed a lot. In order to inspire people in Chang'an, he quickly summoned all officials to announce the matter.

Everyone felt happy when they heard this.

Wei Du Youlin was very worried and couldn't help but said: "Xue Bai's troops are only more than ten thousand at most, and the rebels are more than ten thousand strong. They are attacking Luoyang with great victory. How can he stop it?"

The safety of Chang'an was too important. No one had ever mentioned Xue Bai's military strength before. Every time he emphasized "capture An Lushan alive", it gave people the illusion that Luoyang had abundant troops. Perhaps Du Youlin did not regard Xue Bai as less important than Chang'an City in his heart, so he pointed it out so inappropriately on this occasion.

"What do Mr. Yan think?" Li Cong asked.

Yan Zhenqing could not say, "The reason why the thieves did not take advantage of the situation to capture Chang'an must be because they did not expect that the saint would escape, and they would definitely kill him once they got the news."

He pondered for a moment and said: "I guess that maybe Wang's division won the battle in Luoyang, and the rebels were threatened and quickly returned to their division."

"Xue Bai is Yan Gong's student and a good son-in-law. It must be as Yan Gong said..."

After leaving the Daming Palace, Du Youlin walked with Yan Zhenqing. The two of them walked to the imperial city on foot instead of riding horses.

"How can Mr. Yan think that Xue Bai can win the battle in such a situation?"

There was a hint of complaint in Du Youlin's tone, as if he was protecting his children in front of his in-laws.

He considered himself to be related to Yan Zhenqing. When he adopted Xue Bai, he had already planned to adopt Xue Bai as his adopted son, but it was a pity that Du Jin interfered with this. In addition, there is no daughter of the right age to marry Xue Bai. In this regard, he is also a little jealous of Yan Zhenqing.

After counting the current collapse situation in detail, Du Youlin waved his hands excitedly and said: "There are more than ten thieves and thousands of major shareholders. I don't ask for meritorious service. I only hope that the child can return safely as soon as possible. And Yan Gong and He is a relative, but he only cares about whether he can contain the rebels? Does he not care about his safety? "

"How can I not care?" Yan Zhenqing sighed: "Now is not the time to show worries."

Du Youlin also understands this truth. Just now, he was just caring and causing chaos. It was just a matter of venting his emotions.

Sighing, the two of them went about their business.

When Du Youlin saw Du Jin, he reluctantly told him about the rebels heading east to Luoyang. Yan Zhenqing was busy until evening when she returned home. When she pushed the door open, Wei Yun was writing a letter home.

"Don't panic."

Seeing Wei Yun about to get up, Yan Zhenqing raised her hand to stop her and said, "I'll come back to get some things and rest at the Chunming Gate Tower at night."

Wei Yun was a sensible wife and was not dissatisfied with this. She just reminded: "The New Year is coming soon. Don't forget to reward the soldiers."

"If you didn't mention it, I would have forgotten that it's the Chinese New Year. I never thought that this incident would last until Tianbao's thirteenth year."

"Hey, Alang, wait a minute." Seeing that Yan Zhenqing was about to leave, Wei Yun said quickly: "When I finish writing this letter home, can you ask the post horse to take it to Yangzhou to Sanniang?"

"The power of the post is precious now, and the news from the front line has not yet been delivered. How can the post be used for public and private purposes?"

Yan Zhenqing left home without waiting for Wei Yun. Wei Yun chased him out again and asked him if he had any news about Xue Bai.

"Don't worry, the whole city is counting on him." He was not very good at comforting others, so he borrowed Li Cong's words and said, "Lean on him as the Great Wall."

~~
The next day, Li Cong summoned Yan Zhenqing to discuss matters, and said that he should send letters to various officials to appease them in advance, so as not to be caught off guard when they got the news of the saint's escape.

After Yan Zhenqing took care of Chang'an's defense, Li Cong became more long-term. This move also took into account the issues that the court ordered to go out when the saint arrived in Shu County, including how to transport food from the Jianghuai River in the future.

Although there are hidden thoughts, this move still puts the overall situation first. Yan Zhenqing then went to Zhongshumen to send him.

Soon, an official letter was written and sealed, and a stagecoach was dispatched to deliver it.

"Wait a minute."

The clerk who delivered the official letter from Yangzhou Prefecture came out of the lobby when Yan Zhenqing suddenly shouted.

"Appearance?"

"I'm writing a letter to the family, please take Yiqi with me."

Although Yan Zhenqing has an upright temperament, he is not a pedantic person. After careful consideration, he still started writing and prepared to write a letter to Yan Yan.

After writing only a few words, he stopped again.

How can I not mention Xue Bai when writing a letter to my daughter? But now that the news is blocked, how can I explain it to my daughter?

Just as he was thinking about it, someone hurried from outside the government office and said: "The news is back!"

The sentry rider who came back this time was carrying an arrow on his back and was wounded. He reported to Yan Zhenqing in a weak tone.

"My condolences to Yan Xiang, Xue Lang has been...headed by the rebels."

This sentence was not only about Xue Bai, but also about the hope of many people who stayed in Chang'an City to defend the city. No one believed it after hearing this.

"How could it be? He captured An Lushan."

"The villain captured a lone rebel, and he said that the news had spread among the rebels. Xue Lang wanted to use An Lu Mountain to blow up An Qingxu and his generals, but failed, and was killed by Tian Chengsi, Ashina Chengqing's army. Siege and die in battle.”

"The news is false." Yan Zhenqing said, "He would not trade An Lushan's life for An Qingxu."

"The villain went to Tongguan and saw that Xue Lang's head was hanging at the city gate for public display."

"It's just a way to deceive people's hearts." Yan Zhenqing still didn't believe it. However, Bian Lingcheng arrived in a hurry and shouted from a distance: "Yan Xiang, His Highness summons you to the palace..."

~~
When he arrived at the Daming Palace and spoke face to face with Li Cong, Yan Zhenqing still did not believe that Xue Bai had died at the hands of the rebels.

However, although the sentry horses who came back later did not see the head in front of Tongguan, they all said that An Qingxu's story of beheading Xue Bai in public and avenging his father had spread among the rebels.

What Li Cong is more concerned about is, what should he do without his biggest help? He already understood why Li Longji would rather escape.

"If An Lushan is not in hand, Chang'an City must not be able to defend it, right?"

Yan Zhenqing was in a heavier mood and had many questions to think about, but she had to cheer up to answer Li Cong's questions that had no actual basis for the time being.

"Your Highness, please rest a while and wait for your confirmation."

Regardless of whether the news is true or false, many matters have to be arranged. Yan Zhenqing found an excuse to leave Daming Palace and went to the tower to arrange new defenses.

This sudden change made him busy for two consecutive nights with almost no sleep. When he was so tired that he couldn't hold on any longer, he took a nap for a while and received news from Nanyang.

"how?"

"Lu Jiong, the governor of Nanyang, said... Luoyang was captured by the rebels again, and An Qingxu was ready to proclaim himself emperor."

From the moment he learned that the saint had run away, Yan Zhenqing had expected such a situation and was not surprised. However, this news seemed to tell him that Xue Bai was indeed dead.

The messenger did not give him any luck and continued: "Prefect Lu also claimed that Xue Lang had died in the battle."

Yan Zhenqing took the letter and looked at it. Lu Jiong's source of information was the soldiers who escaped from Luoyang.

That's true.

"Appearance?"

Yan Zhenqing turned around and found that the soldiers had gathered around and were all looking at him.

Du Youlin was also there. He had just come from somewhere else, and when he heard the news, his old eyes turned red.

"At least, the rebels will not attack Chang'an before the New Year." Yan Zhenqing put away his heavy expression and said in a calm tone: "We still have time."

After appeasing everyone, he returned to Zhongshu's hometown and walked into the government office. The letter he wanted to write to Yan Yan was still spread out on the desk.

Yan Zhenqing looked at it and couldn't help but think of Xue Bai's shameless attempt to recognize him as his teacher.

"teacher."

"Don't call me again, I'm not your teacher."

At some point, an official came in and asked, "Yan Xiang, do you still have your family letter?"

Yan Zhenqing shook his head.

He stepped forward with difficulty, stepped forward, picked up the dry ink of the brush, took a look at it, and sharpened the ink again.

I originally wanted to continue writing letters home, but I really didn’t know how to talk to Yan Yan about this.

Finally, the pen tip came down and I wrote four words:
"Sacrifice your son-in-law Xue Bai."

After that, he simply started to write more and more and never stopped writing.

What I wrote this time was not regular script, but running script. I didn’t even care whether the pen and ink were neat or not. The emotions came out of my pen like running water.

At the same time, he also poured out all his anger.

"Wei Tianbao has been in the twelfth year, on the twenty-eighth day of Gui Si Ji Hai Shuo, the teacher..."

After making a mistake in writing a word, Yan Zhenqing crossed it out and continued writing.

When he just wrote this year name, he was a little depressed. Since the change of the year name, the angry saint has indulged in pleasure and no longer governs the country carefully.

He felt deeply about this matter, because just when he was digging out the auspicious Lingbao land, he saw with his own eyes that the Tang army was ambushed, followed by a sound of thunder and huge rocks rolling down, killing countless soldiers and smashing the "Tianbao". Year number.

Tianbao Tianbao starts from Lingbao and ends with Lingbao. However, why should the common people deserve it?

Is this what the sages meant by "changing the year to a new year and making more achievements than Yao and Shun"?

As a result, Yan Zhenqing angrily wrote down a series of official positions given to him by Li Congfeng.

"My father-in-law, Dr. Yin Qing Guanglu, was the Minister of the Ministry of War. I was a third-rank Yan Zhenqing under Tong Zhongshu. I paid homage to my deceased son-in-law, the Grand Administrator of Changshan, Xue Bai. I am a tall and handsome man with outstanding talents..."

Those old things kept coming back in his mind, and the students who were always considered incompetent by him in the past now know his good qualities.

Words of praise that had never been spoken in the past now poured out, all the way to the marriage between Xue Bai and Yan Yan. After that, the conversation changed.

"As a newlywed, with the harp and harp at your side, you will be blessed with happiness. Why would you want to rebel against thieves and provoke them casually, while claiming that the soldiers are obedient?"

When the text reaches the turning point, Yan Zhenqing's mood changes drastically. The word "Fu" is as full as grains entering the warehouse, and the word "Ni" has already shown its anger. Then when he writes "Follow", the ink is exhausted, but the strokes of the pen become more intense. It was as if the paper was also scratched.

Later, Xue Bai's many achievements in suppressing the rebellion were described in detail.

"The north of Hebei is blazing, and people's hearts are shaken repeatedly. In times of hardship and danger, chastity becomes stronger, leading the vibrating crowd, and moving the Central Plains..."

He wrote with agitated moods and followed his whims. His handwriting was sometimes sparse and sometimes dense. When the battle was fierce, his writing was airtight, giving people the feeling of being out of breath. If he made a mistake, he would erase it with one stroke, and the writing would be sparse, as if following Xue Bai across the Yellow River and into Henan.

"Resisting the enemy in Kaifeng, showing his power and force, breaking through the siege at Mangshan, planning for Myron, capturing thieves in Luoyang, making great contributions to the Tang Dynasty, defeating him at the last moment, and suddenly perishing."

Yan Zhenqing paused when writing about Xue Bai's death.

He only wrote two strokes of "The Emperor Runs Away" that he was going to write, and he erased it. The depression and anger in my heart became even more intense due to this pressure.

He is a minister, and if he scolds the king, he will not be happy to vent his anger. Simply take the defeat of Tongguan on yourself to express your feelings.

So the last few sentences took a sudden turn like a waterfall, changing from running script to wild cursive writing.

"My thoughts are torn apart, my heart is shaken, and the sun is far away. Bu'er's house is quiet, and my soul knows it, but I haven't complained for a long time. How sad! Shang Xian!"

After writing the last word, Yan Zhenqing seemed to have lost strength, and the pen in his hand suddenly fell to the ground.

He originally wanted to write it down again, but at this time he was extremely sad and heavy. After staggering a few steps, he walked out in despair.

There were many officials standing outside the door, but Yan Zhenqing didn't see it, so he forgot to cheer up in front of them.

~~
By the next day, Li Cong clearly felt that people's hearts were turbulent.

He summoned Yan Zhenqing and learned that Yan Zhenqing was ill. So Du Youlin was invited, but after asking for advice several times, Du Youlin didn't offer any advice.

"What does Du Gong mean by this?"

"I don't want to say anything." Du Youlin said sadly, "I really don't know what to do."

Under such circumstances, Li Cong almost wanted to escape Chang'an. But he had no escape route at all. In any case, he had to wait until the reinforcements from Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi from Hedong arrived.

Bian Lingcheng betrayed the saint and was a grasshopper on the same rope as Li Cong. Seeing this situation, his scalp became numb.

But he knew many inside stories. After all, he was originally chasing Xue Bai.

"Your Highness, it's not that Du Youlin doesn't want to give advice to His Highness, but he is really mediocre. It must be that after Xue Bai died, the second mother-in-law of the Du family no longer cared about state affairs."

Li Cong also knew that Du Jin had a lot of power, so he asked, "Shall we summon Du Erniang to see you?"

"I'm afraid I won't be able to recruit him." Bian Lingcheng said, "I may need His Highness to inquire in person."

"Ok."

Li Cong did not want to rely heavily on eunuchs, but the more he employed people, the more these eunuchs were the only ones available.

He doesn't have a good appearance. In the past, he liked to wear incognito clothes and cover his face. When I left the Daming Palace today, I also behaved in a simple manner. On the way, I heard many officials talking about Yan Zhenqing's words.

"What happened?"

"Your Highness, do you know that Mr. Yan has written a memorial document for his son-in-law?"

"what for?"

Bian Lingcheng said: "Many people have seen it and said it is different from "Lanting Preface" but comparable to "Lanting Preface"."

Li Cong asked in surprise: "How long has it been since you started talking to me about calligraphy?"

Bian Lingcheng added: "What I want to say is not calligraphy, but that everyone values ​​Xue Bai and thinks he..."

"They think it was Xue Bai who helped me ascend to the reserve position." Li Cong added Bian Lingcheng's implicit words and said, "They think that without Xue Bai, I am nothing."

As he spoke, he touched his scarred face. This ugliness was in sharp contrast with the beauty of calligraphy, which made him feel uncomfortable.

When I arrived at Du's house, I handed over my name card. After waiting for a long time, someone came out to greet me, but it was Du Wulang.

Du Wulang's face was still stained with tears, and he looked lost.

It was hard to say that Li Cong was here to visit Du Erniang, so he had no choice but to go in with him and sit down in the lobby.

"It snowed so heavily that year. It was there on the porch that I met Xue Bai. His brain was damaged and he couldn't remember anything. He asked me which year, month and day it was..."

Du Wulang had no vision, and all he talked about was Xue Bai's rambling.

From the fifth year of Tianbao to the ninth year of Tianbao, they only talked about everything that happened in the court, and did not mention the strength that Xue Bai secretly accumulated.

After Li Cong listened patiently, he finally couldn't help it and asked: "I heard that the Du family's young lady takes care of many chores in the Du family, right?"

"Ah."

Du Wulang nodded, still looking ignorant and stupid. But then, he said something else casually.

"Sisters are doing this because their only wish is to help Xue Bai recover his life experience."

"Life experience?" Li Cong was stunned.

"Yes." Du Wulang said: "Since Xue Bai arrived at the Du family, he has no father, no mother, no name, and no surname. Even his name comes from Bai Xue that day. But he has been implicated and persecuted all these years, so Ajie swore To find a life experience for him.”

"Alas." Li Cong sighed, "I am so jealous of talented people."

"Sister A said that she didn't want him to lose his original name even under Jiuquan."

Li Cong suddenly understood what Du Jin's request was. But this request was too much, and he suspected that he had gone astray.

He shook his head to dispel the thought and patted Du Wulang on the shoulder.

"Your Highness."

Du Wulang turned his head, his eyes were sad, his tone was sincere, and he slowly said: "Actually, we already know his life experience."

Before Li Cong even listened, he opened his mouth and wanted to deny it. Before the words left his mouth, he held them back.

Xue Bai is dead, and he needs to subdue Xue Dang. How can he push out the power that helps him become the prince at this time?

(End of this chapter)