Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 463 True and False

"Find His Majesty!"

Li Heng was riding his horse westward surrounded by people when he suddenly heard such shouting from behind. When he turned around, he saw a knight coming from the east, shouting at the same time.

"Bring him here." Li Heng ordered.

After a while, the knight was brought to him, with excitement still on his face.

"His Majesty has passed away, who asked you to announce it like this?"

"Back to King Zhong, General Chen has found His Majesty! I ordered the villain to come and inform the large group of people to stop proceeding."

"What are you talking about?"

"Really, General Chen met with His Majesty and announced the matter personally."

Li Heng's eyes narrowed and he was about to have a seizure. He soon realized that there were others around him. A slightly weird smile appeared on his face, he opened his lips and uttered a word.

Compared with Li Chu who had to refuse first for a show, Li Fuguo, the eunuch, was more decisive when encountering problems, which made Li Heng feel his loyalty. He even looked back at Li Fuguo's back.

He arranged for two confidants to take the messenger to rest, and told them not to make any announcement until the matter was confirmed. After that, Li Heng turned to the carriage at the rear and opened the curtain directly.

He was extremely surprised and said: "It would be great if Your Majesty is still here! Go and confirm the news quickly, don't let me down."

~~
The walls of Chencang Mountain are ten thousand feet high, and clouds are slowly floating behind the peak.

"Your Highness, we must not let the team stop," Zhang Ting said. "Instead, we should speed up the journey."

"What do you think?"

Zhang Ting quickly realized the discrepancy between the development of the situation and the plan, and asked: "How did Li Chu do things? Why didn't he stop this from the beginning?"

"it is good!"

What he feared was regicide itself. It has to be said that there is a very big difference in degree between setting fire to a mountain and killing a king with real swords and guns.

Zhang Ting was very angry. At this moment, she saw Li Heng's cowardice and luck.

"Just let him do it."

"what for?"

However, Xue Bai's reaction was too fast, and Li Heng didn't even have time to lead the imperial army out of Guanzhong.

"No!" Zhang Ting pulled him over and whispered: "Don't you understand? The fire has just been extinguished. Why is Xue Bai so impatient for the saint to show up that he is not afraid of you killing him? Because he is more afraid of you. Take people to Heshuo! Bring the saint back now, just in case they take control of the Forbidden Army."

She couldn't help but said: "What I should hear is not 'the saint is still alive', but 'someone is pretending to be a saint'."

"Your Highness, King Guangping asked, is it possible to bring everyone back?"

Li Heng hesitated for a moment and said, "Yes."

Since ancient times, many people dared to secretly frame their parents and brothers in order to compete for the throne, but only Emperor Taizong could decisively kill his brother with an arrow in broad daylight in full view of the public. It is easy to kill people secretly, but it takes great courage to face the overwhelming public opinion and historical commentary. Li Heng is far from having such courage.

Zhang Ting actually understood Li Chu better, snorted coldly and said: "Now that things have happened, does he still have a way out? What he is waiting for is nothing more than a clear statement from you."

Li Chu looked anxiously at the mountain road between the two mountains. He wanted to send people in to kill Xue Bai and "rescue" the saint, but he was not confident that there would be no mistakes, for fear that the saint would incite the imperial army under his command.

"Here."

"Good." Li Heng sighed tiredly, stroking her back, and said with emotion: "Fortunately, I have you, my sons, and the eunuchs around me are also helpful."

"How can he stop him?" Li Heng asked, "Can't he do it? That's a saint!"

"So what?" Zhang Ting was surprised, stared at him, and asked: "When things come to a close, are you still soft-hearted? Do you know what will happen to us once we let the old man come back alive?"

The couple were still discussing here, and Li Chu's envoy also arrived to ask Li Heng what to do.

Zhang Ting quickly understood what he was saying, and was so shocked that his pupils dilated, and he murmured: "What? Not dead? It's such a big fire, but they're not dead yet."

"But how dare he do it?"

Li Heng nodded sadly. During the most difficult moments in the past and now, he had established solid trust in the women and eunuchs around him.

"What?" Zhang Ting asked.

They thought well at first. The saint and Xue Bai were most likely dead. If this matter was confirmed as Li Cong's major crime, Li Heng could legitimately ascend the throne. Even if the saint appears again later, the rice has been cooked, and by then, it will be Li Heng, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, who has the power to judge whether someone is pretending to be the emperor.

"That's because His Highness is generous and tolerant."

Li Chu objected to Xue Bai's false appearance of regicide from the beginning. Li Heng knew that his eldest son had a soft ear, so he persuaded him hard before he agreed. They found a few confidants and picked a palace lady to pretend to be Yang Yuhuan. At first they didn't want to kill them, but Li Chu'er was soft-hearted and finally shot them all. However, it is not difficult to be cruel to the lives of your subordinates, but when facing a true saint, the situation is different.

The car curtains were lowered, and the smile on his face instantly faded, becoming gloomy.

But the order for Li Chu to take action could not be left on paper. He looked around and saw that this matter could not be handled by any officials or soldiers. Only a few eunuchs around him could be trusted, so he summoned Li Fuguo and whispered a few words. , said: "Go right away."

"They shouldn't be allowed to see Chen Xuanli."

Li Heng swallowed and said nothing, but he could not hide the fear in his eyes.

The idea was indeed hers. Because Li Heng was anxious to take the team to Heshuo, she first persuaded him to set fire to the mountain. But after the fire was extinguished, many important ministers still insisted on finding the saint, saying, "You want to see the saint alive, and you want to see the body dead." Li Heng also felt threatened by Li Wan, and always said uneasily, "The night is long and the dreams are many." So Zhang Ting once again I suggest that we make a play in which the saint is killed by Xue Bai, and it will be over.

"We must take action as early as possible. The longer we delay, the more out of control the situation will be." Zhang Ting urged, "Let Li Chu do it quickly."

When Li Fuguo first entered the palace, he never thought that one day he would be able to participate in such a major world event. Fortunately, he was able to deal with it and hurriedly mounted his horse and left.

Li Heng soon figured out that bringing the living saint back would be the worst possible outcome.

"You came up with a good idea." Li Heng gritted his teeth and squeezed out a sentence, trying to control his panic and anger, and said: "Right now, both the saint and Xue Bai are alive, what do you want me to do?!"

"Brother," Li Tan said, "Shall we talk?"

"Ah."

The two brothers then drove their horses away from the soldiers and faced each other on the banks of the Wei River.

Finally, Li Tan asked: "Before leaving the Pass, the scene where Xue Bai killed the king was actually performed by my brother?"

"You just found out that it was Xue Bai who sent someone..."

"I'm just going to find a step for my brother to get off." Li Tan said, "Don't deceive yourself."

Li Chu sighed: "Sanlang, are you doubting me?"

"That's not what I meant."

"I thought the saint would not be spared from such a fire." Li Chu said, "The situation is like this again. Outside there is Hu Jie's chaos, and inside there is King Qing forcing the palace. If we don't organize the army to the northwest as soon as possible, we will have to guard a cloud of ashes and suffer. Searching hard will only make some people have thoughts they shouldn’t have.”

Li Tan asked: "Brother, was he worried that King Rong would take the opportunity to cause trouble, so he took this step?"

"good."

"But now that the saint is here, why isn't my brother happy?"

Li Chu was surprised and asked: "When did I become unhappy?"

Li Tan said: "I can see it."

This sentence made Li Chu's eyes become even more gloomy.

"I can see it, and so can others." Li Tan said, "There is no need for Xue Bai to prove anything. I just see your reaction when you hear that the saint is alive. Anyone who is interested will understand what is going on."

"Then what should I do?"

"The soldiers are not stupid. They know what is going on. They will definitely not dare to follow brother... and refuse to recognize the saint." Li Tan actually never revealed Li Chu's thoughts on this matter, and said: "The only way to welcome him now is to Go back to the saint, ask the saint to issue the decree, and continue to Heshuo."

At this moment.

"King Guangping, the sage has an oral message!"

Li Chu turned around and saw a knight under Chen Xuanli coming over and said loudly: "Summon Li Chu, King of Guangping, to see him and explain the mountain fire and regicide!"

As soon as this statement came out, the Imperial Guards immediately started talking.

Li Chu did not expect that before he could make up his mind to attack Xue Bai, he would be forced into a dilemma by Xue Bai.

At this moment, a fast horse ran towards him. It was Li Fuguo who had arrived.

Li Fuguo had a better personal relationship with Li Tan before, but today he avoided Li Tan, pulled Li Chu over, and whispered a few words.

~~
Randen Temple.

Xue Bai sat cross-legged under an ancient tree, as if an old monk was in meditation.

After he finished telling the whole story, he stopped explaining too much and left Chen Xuanli and others to decide who they should believe or who they were willing to believe.

"Xue Bai, you are all safe and sound, but the saint's face was burned. Don't you think it's too suspicious?" Chen Xuanli came over and asked in a deep voice.

"Are you safe?" Xue Bai said, "General Chen, does he know how many people were killed in this fire?"

"I do not care……"

"There are more than two hundred corpses that I have seen with my own eyes, but only seven people survived in the mountains, and fourteen people died to protect the saint. When you say 'safe and sound', do you think we died less? Then go to Chang'an, Henan, and Hebei, where many people died."

Chen Xuanli said angrily: "I'm not talking about these, I'm talking about the face of a saint. Do you know how important the emperor's appearance is?! If you don't know, you can ask King Qing."

"If General Chen suspects that the saint is lying, he can draw his sword to kill us and go to Li Heng."

"you!"

Xue Bai stopped answering. He didn't want to get stuck in the quagmire of explanation. Rather than doing that, it is better to let Li Chu's reaction strengthen the confidence of these people.

He had already asked Chen Xuanli to pass the edict to Li Chu and was just waiting for the result.

Who is rebellious knows best.

Finally, a message came from the other side of the mountain road, and someone said: "King Guangping has come to see His Majesty."

Xue Bai opened his eyes and said: "Let's go. When King Guangping and the saint explain clearly in person, General Chen will naturally know the truth."

He got up and walked towards the mountain road, and soon saw Li Chu coming here with some of his confidants.

Li Chu was wearing a battle armor and looked heroic. When he raised his head and looked up, his eyes looked like a wolf. Climbing up the stairs step by step, I finally saw Xue Bai from a distance when I was almost in front of Randeng Temple.

"Get Xue Ni!"

Almost immediately, Li Chu raised a crossbow.

Chen Xuanli was beside Xue Bai. He immediately had someone protect him and shouted: "Stop! King Guangping will wait until the confrontation is clear before taking action!"

At the same time, Zhang Xiaojing said: "The saint has a purpose to capture Li Chu! I have reported to the saint that it was Li Heng and his son who ordered me to take action..."

Before he finished shouting, Li Chu knew what Zhang Xiaojing was talking about. He immediately turned the direction of the crossbow and shot an arrow at Zhang Xiaojing.

"stop!"

"Whoosh."

Zhang Xiaojing rolled on the spot and shouted: "Get him!"

"puff."

Li Chu and the soldiers behind him quickly drew their swords and rushed towards the Randen Temple. Anyone who dared to stop them would be killed.

Chen Xuanli was so shocked that he quickly retreated into the temple and asked people to close the temple door without caring about the people left outside the temple.

"Quickly, close the door! Protect your majesty! King Guangping, are you crazy?!" Li Chu heard the words "protect your majesty", and his murderous intention became stronger, and he shouted: "Xue Ni killed the king and falsely conveyed the holy will, punish him. Anyone who dares to help others is considered an accomplice!”

"kill!"

Li Wan was originally talking to Wei Jiansu at the gate. When he suddenly encountered this situation, he was shocked and excited, and shouted: "Li Heng and his son have rebelled! Go and summon the Imperial Army to put down the rebellion!"

Before he finished speaking, he discovered that Li Chu had loaded another crossbow and pointed it directly at him.

"Prince Rong, let's go."

"puff."

A crossbow arrow hit Li Wan's thigh, and he fell to the ground, terrified.

"Help me quickly! Close the door, close the door!"

He originally thought that his brothers would either die or be regarded as treasonous, so the throne would naturally fall on him. But when he felt severe pain, he realized that the battle for the reserve was far more cruel than he had expected.

As soon as they saw Li Wan being shot down, some of Li Chu's confidants immediately ran to the imperial guards at the foot of the mountain and shouted: "The matter has been found out. King Rong has conspired to treason and made people pretend to be saints!"

Here, Li Chu's eyes became more fierce as he rushed to the temple gate and immediately ordered his men to knock on the door.

"Oh!"

The dilapidated wooden door had just been hit for the first time and was already beginning to collapse.

Sawdust and sand fell down, confusing Li Chu's eyes. He raised his hands and rubbed them, tears streaming down his face.

He thought of the story he had heard since he was a child. It was said that when he was full moon, the saint came to see him at the Ten Kings' House and held him in his arms. At that time, a eunuch said, "There are three emperors in this house." He was the eldest son, and his Grandpa is the crown prince of the Tang Dynasty, so of course he will become the emperor sooner or later.

But he is still so young, but the Tang Dynasty has been in such chaos. If no one stands up, it will really fall apart like the Yongjia Rebellion.

"Oh!"

The door of Randen Temple was knocked open. Li Chu looked up with red eyes and saw the mottled Buddha statue holding flowers and smiling at him.

For a husband who has a country, the greatest filial piety is to preserve the country. What is the point of a mere family relationship?

"Kill the traitor!"

Li Chu shed tears, shouted, and killed without hesitation.

Running past the main hall, I saw Chen Xuanli, Xue Bai and others helping a figure wearing a torn imperial robe to climb up the steep mountain path behind the temple.

"Don't let them escape..."

Li Chu raised his crossbow again and stared at them. Suddenly, in the chaos, the saint turned back and glanced at him. His face was actually wrapped in a wrapping cloth, revealing half of his burned face.

"saint?"

Li Chu was stunned for a moment, and suddenly realized that he had fallen into a trap.

As Zhang Ting said, it is difficult for a saint to survive such a fire with his old body. Instead of searching hard, it is better to confirm the news of death. Xue Bai really failed to save the saint, so he had his face disfigured to replace him. Otherwise, why would his face just be burned and his royal robe still recognizable even though it was torn?

At this time, it seems difficult for Xue Bai to prove that this saint is real. But damn, his overreaction had completely pushed Chen Xuanli, Wei Jiansu and others to the opposite side.

All the worries I had before seemed ridiculous now. If Li Chu did not have a guilty conscience, he could have come to greet the saint happily and discovered something was wrong earlier.

These thoughts flashed through Li Chu's mind, and now, he could only go to the dark side in one way. As long as Xue Bai and even Chen Xuanli are killed, everything will be solved and the Forbidden Army will be better controlled.

"Did you see it? They are pretending to be saints and deserve death. Kill them!"

Just when they reached the back mountain path, they were caught off guard, and a sharp arrow shot over with the sound of breaking the wind.

Li Chu was startled and stopped. He swung his sword to block but it was in vain. When he looked down, he saw that the arrow was stuck in the ground at his feet. It penetrated a few inches and the arrow feathers shook slightly.

Ambush.

He took a few steps back, raised his head, and saw figures standing in the mountains.

"Guo Qianli?!" Li Chu asked in surprise, "Why are you here?!"

Guo Qianli held a big bow and spat: "King Zhong ordered me to search and rescue the saint, and took the opportunity to occupy Sanguan. Of course I have to find the saint!"

That night, after Xue Bai kidnapped the saint, he was no longer trusted. When a fire broke out, they were sent to put out the fire, but Sanguan was also occupied. But since he was the closest, and he was familiar with the terrain, he was naturally the first to arrive when he saw Xue Bai's signal.

Otherwise, with only Jiang Hai's hundreds of troops, how could Xue Bai dare to take such a risk?

"Guo Qianli! Don't be soft, capture him!"

Seeing that Guo Qianli's arrow missed Li Chu, Xue Bai immediately shouted.

"Take him down!" Guo Qianli was not stupid. He knew that Xue Bai was asking him to kill the emperor's grandson to show his support, so he just shouted: "Take him down!"

Seeing that there were so many of them, Li Chu knew that he was outnumbered and quickly retreated.

"go!"

"Protect King Guangping!"

The men he brought with him were all loyal and brave, and they quickly protected him and retreated to the mountain road, while blocking him and leaving behind him.

Guo Qianli ordered his soldiers to chase and kill more than ten people along the mountain road.

"Brother?"

At the foot of the mountain, Li Tan saw Li Chu retreating in embarrassment from a distance. He was a little surprised and led Xiaoqi to come forward to rescue him.

He was skillful with bow and horse, and he shot several arrows in succession, hitting the pursuers behind Li Chu, and then ordered people to snatch Li Chu back.

Seeing that he was almost about to capture Li Chu, something suddenly arose. Guo Qianli was so angry that he jumped up and sounded a horn, urging Jiang Hai to lead his troops to fight Li Tan.

Jiang Hai, however, was not under Guo Qianli. He did not receive Xue Bai's orders, and seeing that Li Tan was brave and the imperial army had too many troops, he did not want his soldiers to sacrifice in vain, so he only fired arrows to drive Li Tan away without going forward to fight.

"I'm so angry!"

Guo Qianli saw Xue Bai striding over and said first, "Why don't your people kill them?!"

"Why didn't you kill Li Chu with one arrow?" Xue Bai asked.

"Hey, what you said is that he is the emperor's grandson and the prince. How can I dare to kill him?"

"He's rebellious."

"That's what you said." Guo Qianli said, "Do you think I will kill anyone who is rebellious?"

Xue Bai laughed angrily at him, waved him forward, and asked in a low voice: "Did you see that I deliberately asked you to kill him?"

"Of course, I'm not stupid." Guo Qianli patted his chest and said, "But I will not easily follow you to cause chaos. As a general of the Longwu Army, I should be loyal to the saint. I will not side with any prince."

"Yes, you are not stupid." Xue Bai asked: "Do you know why the official position has been ups and downs over the years, and occasionally it has been ups and downs?"

"Why?"

"You only see that Chen Xuanli doesn't stand for any prince, but you don't see that he has made the contribution to the dragon decades earlier?"

Guo Qianli was stunned.

Xue Bai patted him on the back and said: "If you don't know how to stand in line, you can see how the smart people stand."

Chen Xuanli also strode over and shouted loudly at the foot of the mountain: "All forbidden troops obey the order, Prince Zhong and his son have rebelled! Capture them..."

~~
"Fake! Disfigured!"

Li Chu fled back in a hurry, and the first thing he did was to pull Li Tan over and say this.

Li Tan's reaction was actually a little disappointed. First of all, he regretted that his grandfather was no longer alive.

"Xue Bai must have committed regicide." Li Chu added, "The saint is in his hands, why should he replace it with a disfigured one? He must have committed regicide. I was just acting out the truth to the world in advance."

Having said that, after experiencing his reactions, it is useless to talk about it now.

Chen Xuanli and others had been completely forced to oppose him and began to incite the Imperial Army.

Li Chu originally wanted to order the Imperial Army to put down the rebellion, but he gradually realized that if he continued to entangle himself, he would be the one who would be regarded as a rebel and put down.

"Brother should not take action rashly." Li Tan observed the situation and quickly made a judgment.

After that, he glanced at Li Fuguo and said coldly: "I told you, don't let me see you interfering in state affairs again."

Li Fuguo was shocked and responded: "King Jianning, spare your life, I am just following orders..."

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The war drums on the opposite side were beating loudly.

Guo Qianli's soldiers have already rushed down the mountain. There are not many people following him now, only a few hundred, but they joined forces with Jiang Hai to form an array of more than a thousand people. In addition, Chen Xuanli and Xue Bai mounted their war horses and raised their flags high to intimidate the imperial army in the name of the emperor, which soon shook the morale of Li Chu's army.

"Withdraw." Li Tan said, "Bring the troops back to Heshuo and let's talk."

"withdraw!"

Li Chu ordered the gold medal, and at the same time he did not forget to publicize that "Prince Rong consecrated Xue Bai and falsely conveyed the imperial edict". He also said that Shuofang's troops had sufficient food and supplies to stimulate the wavering military morale.

"Let Treason and Hu Jie stay in Guanzhong and kill each other. We will go to Shuofang first to rectify military affairs and clean up the country!"

The team retreated slowly, thinking that Xue Ni's troops were small and would not dare to pursue them. What they didn't expect was that numerous riders came running from a distance, chasing them all the time, just a stone's throw away.

"Go back and guard Chang'an!"

Under the setting sun, Zhang Xiaojing galloped on the Guanzhong Plain, constantly shouting to his former colleagues.

He didn't mention who was the rebel and who was the loyal minister, because even he couldn't tell the difference.

In his eyes, Xue Bai and the prince behind him may not be really innocent, and it is not important. He is tired of being involved in the battle for the reserve position and being used like a pawn.

Among Li Cong, Li Heng, and Li Wan, who can be the emperor? What does it matter to an ordinary soldier like him? He just doesn't care.

When he found out that the powerful people who took him out of Chang'an, whether to Shu County or to Shuofang, were not thinking about how to defend the country at all, they were only thinking about their own power and interests. Zhang Xiaojing suddenly realized that he had only one wish - to go back and keep his home.

No matter if it is loyal or traitorous, no matter if it is regicide or guardian!
"Go back! Our home is in Chang'an!"

Zhang Xiaojing chased for a long distance, like Kuafu chasing the sun, until the sun set over the distant Longshan Mountain and the world fell into darkness.

He tightened the reins and felt his voice was as hoarse as if it was on fire.

Looking back, he saw countless torches behind him, like stars in the sky.

It was that Xue Bai had led his troops to catch up, and many soldiers who were willing to go back with him to guard Chang'an were forming their troops.

He had actually recovered many people, so he grinned with satisfaction.

"Zhang Xiaojing!"

As he was turning around to head east, someone suddenly shouted to him in the night.

"The third child?" Zhang Xiaojing was pleasantly surprised when he heard that he was a comrade in his team, "I thought you were silenced."

"Ha, I won't die that easily. I want to go back to Chang'an with you."

Zhang Xiaojing asked: "Didn't you say that you wanted to take advantage of Heshuo? You ran back to Chang'an to die. There will be so many nameless corpses that I can't tell you apart."

"I finally understand. Rather than die in these bullshit, it would be better to die in Chang'an..."

(End of this chapter)