Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 468 Playing with fire and burning yourself
Yang Yuyao said these two things in succession. Xue Baiyin was staring outside the city. At first glance, he mistakenly thought that Yang Yuhuan was going to remarry.

Soon, the messenger outside the city broke through and rushed to the city gate. He rushed down to the city to meet him without caring about others. Yang Yuyao originally wanted to use this matter to show off to him, but now she could only look at his busy back on the top of the city.

"Enemies don't even try to comfort me."

She cursed softly to herself, but she found Xue Bai's figure extremely attractive. For him, even his brother-in-law has died, and he has sacrificed so much, so he is reluctant to ruin the friendship and has no choice.

Here Yang Yuyao was worried, but Xue Bai was so busy that he didn't go to her house to rest until the third watch.

I don’t know what news he got, and he was in a high mood. He still did not coax Yang Yuyao, but said enthusiastically: "I know that there are many people who hate me in Chang'an City, but as long as the rebels are defeated, no matter how much they hate me, they can only obey me." ”

"Well, I surrender to you..."

In March in Chang'an, the cry of warblers rang out in the distance. I don't know which lucky bird was not caught and eaten by the hungry people.

Xue Bai was extremely tired and fell into a deep sleep. In his ears, he heard Yang Yuyao muttering resentfully: "Huh, you know how to pick a weak persimmon."

He then thought that she actually knew what he was thinking. If he could win this battle, he would use Wang Hong to set an example and establish his prestige. This was indeed a soft persimmon.

Xue Bai finally nodded and said: "This matter is based on your wishes, I can't stop it."

"How many times have I told you, call me sister, can you only be close to the third sister?" Yang Yuhuan hooked his fingers again, lowered his voice and said: "The saint looks like this now, I can't stay in this palace any longer. How about letting me go?"

"I'll find someone to choose." Xue Bai said, "Before that, just be patient for now, okay?"

So, her voice became softer and she asked: "Then, who will keep an eye on the saint for you? Can you rest assured that you only rely on Gao Lishi?"

Afterwards, Xue Bai had a very urgent dream, as if he had forgotten something. When Xue Bai woke up again, he heard the voice of a woman talking outside the door. It was Xie Aman's voice. I remembered that I should have gone to see Yang Yuhuan.

"Ok."

Yang Yuhuan actually laughed, as if she thought it was a joke. After that, she calmed down her expression and said accusingly: "Since you know that this act of killing people and seizing food is unpopular, you still insist on doing it. Do you think it's not embarrassing for me?"

This sentence was a bit serious, and Yang Yuhuan hurriedly denied it: "Are you going to fight against you? Sister A and Cui Xun have already broken up their friendship."

"If the city is destroyed, the Yang family will still be the one who suffers. Why should you be used as a weapon for the benefit of the family?"

Xue Bai remained calm and said, "Chang'an is surrounded by rebels. Where can I go?"

"Your wings are full, so the Yang family is useless to you?" Yang Yuhuan did not make a resentful expression, he just lowered his head and dimmed his eyes, which made people feel pity.

There was no sound from the other side of the screen. After waiting for a while, Xue Bai became impatient and simply walked around the screen.

"Madam Hanguo just lost her husband, and she is remarrying at such a critical time. If she doesn't have an adulterer, then she is planning to form an alliance with another noble family to fight against me? Perhaps... I can consider this a threat?"

"So long?"

He raised his fingers, as if he wanted to touch her watery cheeks to see if she was wilted, and then stopped.

Peugeot is not a very powerful word, but it is extremely beautiful, and naturally it is extremely pleasing to the eye.

"Here."

This is a hall with the word "work", which is divided into a front hall and a back hall. There is a passage in the middle with a screen. The dim candlelight and the diffuse incense gave it a mysterious aura.

"Do you know how peonies wither?" Yang Yuhuan said slowly, "It's not like other flowers that wither little by little. Instead, when they bloom most beautifully and brilliantly, they fall with their petals. "

"Yes, you are kind to the Yang family. My sister's husband died, so she immediately remarried for fear of offending you."

Xue Bai was silent, not giving an answer immediately, but thinking.

She seemed to have fallen asleep just now. When she heard the movement, she raised her eyes and glanced at Xue Bai lazily. Because of those eyes, everything around her seemed to be quiet, waiting patiently for her eyelashes to complete their movements.

"Why was I used as a gun? You killed my brother-in-law, why can't I try to squeeze some benefits out of you?" Yang Yuhuan scolded and dismissed the matter lightly.

"The imperial concubine slept all night."

At a glance, Yang Yuhuan closed his eyes again, propped up his head, and asked Zhang Yunrong behind him in a confused voice: "I fell asleep, how long have I been waiting?"

Xie Aman stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, Xue Lang is here."

As she spoke, her expression gradually became sadder, and her regret for the withering of the peony flowers was far greater than the death of her brother-in-law.

Yang Yuhuan smiled, sincerely happy. She had figured out his temperament, and just now she wanted to hit him with some reason, but she hit him hard; but if she really wanted to ask for it, even if it was embarrassing, he would still agree.

She stared straight at Xue Bai with a pair of bright eyes, waiting for his answer.

Xue Bai said: "Then please ask the noble concubine to tell her and clearly discern the other party's purpose, but don't let me kill another husband of hers."

"You must have heard about Cui Xun's death?"

"What benefits does the imperial concubine want that she cannot tell me directly?"

Xue Bai did not accept this trick and said calmly: "I have warned the noble concubine a long time ago that the Yang family will be in great trouble, and it was finally caused by the Chencang Incident. If I hadn't promised to protect the Yang family, why would I take the risk to save her?"

Yang Yuhuan kicked off the quilt and said, "Everyone, go down. I will explain a few things to Abai on behalf of the saint."

She dared to offend Xue Bai more than Yang Yuyao, and tried to hit him with words, but she only dared to test him slightly, and did not dare to say serious words for fear of breaking her face. She knew her situation very well. Without him now, there would be many people who could tear her and the family behind her into pieces.

Yang Yuhuan was lying on her side on a chair, with the colored gauze hanging from her shoulders hanging on the ground. At first glance, her skin was as white as snow. The so-called peerless beauty means that even if you haven't seen her for a few days, you will still be amazed when you see her again. I am surprised that there is such a beautiful face in the world.

Yang Yuhuan asked: "Then if the siege of Chang'an is solved, will you let me go?"

After Zhang Yunrong and Xie Aman led the maids away, Yang Yuhuan raised her fingers and asked, "Do you know why I called you here?"

In other words, with just a few words of anger, Yang Yuhuan chose her stance on this matter. This is not easy, after all, her relationship with Xue Bai is not like Yang Yuyao.

Xue Bai entered the Taiji Palace in the name of meeting the saint, but when he arrived, he was led directly to the Wanchun Palace and did not see Li Longji.

"No matter how many people want to appreciate it, the peony only follows its own flowering period. The world says it is rich, but I think it is noble. But I can't do it. I have two opportunities in my life to wither like that, a cup of poison, a flower Bai Ling, I flinched and ended up being trapped in this deep palace and withering little by little... Do you feel my withering?"

"Okay, let me tell you some more news." Yang Yuhuan only talked about a few serious matters at this time, "King Qing came to see him twice yesterday, but Gao Lishi and I blocked him; King Rong and King Yong also came to see him one after another. It’s all after you pay for it.”

"I know."

"But I'm afraid Gao Lishi didn't tell you, right? The saint was not at ease and tried to talk to Chen Xuanli yesterday. I happened to find out and stopped the matter. Chen Xuanli went to find Gao Lishi."

Xue Bai's eyes narrowed slightly. He had indeed never heard Gao Lishi say anything about this matter.

With his status, it was gradually becoming difficult to control the emperor outside the palace. After all, he is not Cao Cao, and the saint in the palace is not Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty.

"so……"

Yang Yuhuan spoke again, but Xue Bai couldn't hear clearly. He leaned over and felt a hair falling into his ear, which was itchy.

"Am I the most trustworthy?" she asked.

"Ah."

"Really let me go?"

"I know you don't like doing these things." Xue Bai was still thinking and said casually: "In these years, you have not been involved in politics."

"That's because I don't have children." Yang Yuhuan whispered, slightly regretful.

"Ah."

"What about you? Can't give birth?"

Xue Bai was stunned, and turned to look at Yang Yuhuan in surprise.

She seemed to find pleasure in suppressing him. She half-covered her mouth with her hand and asked quietly: "I admit that I can't give birth, what about you?"

"Still young and in control."

"Yes." Yang Yuhuan obviously didn't believe it and deliberately offended him with a narrow smile.

Judging from the current cooperative relationship between the two, she is not a good partner and does not surrender to Xue Bai. This can be seen from her usually playful and innocent temperament. She is lively and always likes to interact emotionally. She may be a very interesting lover, but she is definitely not a good subordinate.

Xue Baisui glanced at her lightly and did not answer.

He has authority.

"What do you want me to do?" Yang Yuhuan wanted to challenge his authority and muttered in a low voice, "What a great saint."

"Stop making trouble. In two days, I need to kill Bian Lingcheng to shock the inside. Please ask for an imperial edict for me..."

~~
After leaving Taiji Palace, Xue Bai climbed onto his horse and could feel many pairs of eyes secretly watching him.

He knew that his current situation was a bit dangerous. He wanted to use the saint to command the world, but gradually he couldn't hold it anymore; Li Cong was jealous of him; the matter of collecting food offended the wealthy family, in short, people's hearts were shaken.
Sure enough, bad news came again.

"Bian Lingcheng is going to deliver a letter outside the city again."

"Give me."

Xue Bai opened the letter and saw that Bian Lingcheng reported all the recent events in Chang'an City to the rebels and gave them an idea.

Bian Lingcheng asked the rebels to pretend to surrender to the Emperor of Tang Dynasty. The only condition was to kill Xue Bai. There is another very suitable reason for this matter, that is, An Lushan raised troops in the first place because Xue Bai deliberately forced him to incite civil strife in order to achieve his ulterior motives.

In this way, the noble families in Chang'an City who were originally dissatisfied with Xue Bai will definitely agree. These people occupy most of the official positions in the court, and the public sentiment will inevitably surge and force Li Cong...

After looking at it, even Xue Bai thought Bian Lingcheng's suggestion might be successful. Although this matter sounds absurd, in the original history, the Tang Dynasty never "pacified" the Anshi Rebellion, but only "appeased" the Anshi Rebellion. To put it simply, they recruited and appeased the rebels.

To put it harshly, the Tang court did not even achieve complete appeasement. The rebels rebelled and surrendered, surrendered and rebelled again, until the vassal towns were established and the Tang Dynasty was destroyed.

It's like a fire. At first everyone saw sparks, and then small flames broke out. These were still at the stage where it was not difficult to extinguish; even now, the fire is still controllable... But no one in the world knows that it In fact, it is very likely that it cannot be destroyed in everyone's lifetime. If so, the weakness of those in power must be an important reason.

Li Longji played with fire and burned himself, and his weakness was undoubtedly exposed the moment he escaped from Chang'an. The weakness of Li Heng, Li Chu and his son was also foreseeable. As for Li Cong, he was obviously not determined.

Xue Bai went to the city and handed the letter to Wang Jin for reading.

This time, even the always bold Wang Rao felt the danger and asked, "Should this letter be withheld?"

"Why?" Xue Bai asked knowingly.

Wang Nan asked: "Have you ever heard of a word called 'playing with fire and self-immolation'?"

“I think about that word a lot as I look at this rebellion.”

Wang rarely smiled knowingly, but it did not prevent him from considering the worst case scenario and said: "Once the rebels follow the plan of commanding the city, at least half of the aristocratic families and high-ranking officials in the city will no longer support you. Do you expect me to suppress them?"

Xue Bai asked: "Can't you suppress it?"

"of course."

"You have indeed analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of each other's combat capabilities. Are you sure that if there is chaos in the city, you will not be able to suppress it?"

Wang Ruolan fell silent, took a deep look at Xue Bai, and asked: "At this critical moment, are you sure you want to condone civil strife? Let Bian Lingcheng encourage these people to oppose you?"

"Bian Lingcheng is a eunuch. He has never been a caller. The reason why he mentioned this is just because these people are going to oppose me. The prince is jealous of me. The internal strife has already happened. It is just hidden and has not exploded. Come out. What we have to do is to trigger it and clear people's hearts as early as possible to face the real key battle."

"let me see."

Wang Rao had never thought carefully about whether chaos in the city could be suppressed before. At this time, I took two steps, thinking about what if someone wanted to open the city gate to lead in the rebels.
He had rich experience in battles, and he quickly came up with an idea. He punched the palm of his hand hard and became a little excited.

"Let's deduce that Cui Qianyou gets this letter and is unwilling to surrender, but he will definitely agree and take the opportunity to invade Chang'an. He will send a horse to ask An Qingxu for a 'letter of credence' and secretly hand it to Bian Lingcheng. Incite the officials in the city. At this time, we will kill Bian Lingcheng and get rid of those who dare to cause trouble, and then open the city gate and let the rebels enter the city."

Having said this, Wang Rao pointed to the city.

There is also a city wall there, which was specially built by Li Longji. There is an imperial road between the two walls for the saints to walk between Daming Palace, Xingqing Palace and Qujiang Pool.

"As soon as the rebels entered the city, we blocked the wall, caught turtles in the jar, and ambushed the rebels."

"If everything goes well," Xue Bai said, "But is there the most difficult part of this plan?"

Wang Nan asked, "Won't the saint or the prince agree?"

"No, I have already made preparations in this regard." Xue Bai said: "The difficulty is that if all the officials in the court want to kill me, I'm afraid you won't be able to kill them."

Wang Rao looked at him deeply, his eyes extremely sharp.

The two of them looked at each other, and their pupils seemed to have already seen the scene of mass murder in the imperial city.

"What if I can do it?" Wang Rao finally asked in a deep voice.

"It's hard to control the speed." Xue Bai said: "If we kill too much, the court will not be able to function, and the country will be destroyed; if we don't kill enough, we will not be able to scare the courtiers, and we will be the ones who die."

"I just want to be ruthless, and you can tell me to stop."

"I didn't tell Wang Sili, Li Chengguang, Chen Xuanli, Guo Qianli and other generals about this matter. Even my father-in-law didn't know about it."

"Okay, this is easy." Wang Nan said, "Just use our own soldiers and horses to kill them all."

Xue Bai took Bian Lingcheng's letter from his hand, folded it, took out an arrow, and tied it to the arrow shaft.

During the process, he moved very slowly, giving Wang Rao enough time to regret.

"There is another question." Wang Nan paced and said: "The rebels have 70,000 elite soldiers. Even if they design to lure some of the rebels into the city to kill, it is still not enough to repel the main force. At this time, is it possible to kill Bian Lingcheng? Will it affect our original plan?”

"It is enough to inform the rebels of our reinforcements and food route. Removing Bian Lingcheng will avoid exposing more flaws. Let the rebels have a hard time under Chang'an City, and then they will turn to attack our reinforcements. Extend the front.”

"That's it. Don't be afraid that I will be soft."

After Wang Nan said this, he took Xue Bai's letter arrow and shot it toward the place where the rebels took the arrow outside the city.

"There is no turning back when the bow is fired."

~~
There is also a Menxia Province in the Daming Palace, which is located east of the central axis of the palace, not far from the Xuanzheng Hall and the East Palace.

Recently, Li Cong often likes to conduct state affairs here. First, because the saint returned to Chang'an, he had to show some humility and could not often hold court meetings in the main hall. Second, because he could get closer to officials and accumulate his reputation by going to the provinces.

This is also a sign that Li Cong has made great progress in the way of power. He began to care less about names and instead pursued substance. In fact, his talent is not bad, but he has been imprisoned in the Ten Kings' House since he was a child. He did not start participating in politics until he was in his forties or fifties... It can only be said that he was a late striker.

"Your Highness, Xue Bai has robbed all the food stored in the minister's house."

The person who came to see Li Cong that day was Li Cong, King of Rongyang, who was his cousin.

As we all know, the saint brothers have a deep relationship, so they are also very kind to their nephews. Li Jue's family is rich, so it is obvious that he will not only have "a little food."

In fact, Li Cong had sent people to find out clearly. Li Jue was given thousands of stones of grain, and there were countless hiding places in the wine cellar. After receiving the grain, Li Jue personally ran to meet with Xue Bai. After an argument, he said in anger, "Half the untouchables in Chang'an are not dead yet, how many more days can you hold on to my food after you robbed me?!"

The impact of such remarks was extremely bad, and Li Cong was displeased, thinking that it had damaged the clan's face, so he always responded calmly to Li Jian's complaints.

"Okay, let's talk after the rebels are defeated. The saint's illness will be cured by then. If I can't handle it to your satisfaction, you can go to the saint and ask for the removal of me as the prince."

In the end, Li Cong drove away Li Jie with a final word, which seemed very authoritative.

He thought clearly. The most important thing now was to keep calm and let Xue Bai offend others and defend the city. After Chang'an was defended, Xue Bai was pushed out and the people were angry. By then, the worries in his heart will be solved, and Xue Bai's life experience will be put to rest.

It's not that he doesn't value friendship and burns bridges, but that he has deeply felt the threat of Xue Bai. I would like to ask, which descendant of the Li family sitting in the position of prince dares to give an ambitious person like Xue Bai a status that can participate in the fight for the throne?
Every time he thinks about this, Li Cong feels like a light is hanging on his back...

"Your Highness!"

Suddenly, an official rushed over, went straight to the door and went to the province, and shouted to Li Cong ecstatically: "Your Highness, God bless the Tang Dynasty, the rebels have sent envoys to surrender! The rebellion will be put down soon! Your Highness has put down the rebellion. ah!"

"what?"

This incident was so sudden that Li Cong was inexplicably surprised. He stood up and wanted to ask, "Why did the rebels suddenly surrender?" But he quickly held back.

He is no longer what he used to be. He is no longer the idle king who didn't have many palaces in the ten kings' mansions. He knows that all the officials now think that he is the one who makes the plans. Once asked, he will break this impression. Therefore, he quickly adjusted to an expression of emotion and anger, stood with his hands behind his hands, and waited for more news.

"The rebel general Cui Qianyou sent an envoy to meet with him and attached a letter asking for surrender, explaining the cause of the rebellion..."

The letter asking for surrender was very long. Li Cong read it carefully and was doubtful about the letter.

Cui Qianyou still took his dignity into consideration and did not say that Xue Bai forced An Lushan to rebel in order to support him to succeed to the throne. Instead, he attributed all this to Xue Bai's personal ambition. Li Cong had always listened to Li Longji and Yang Guozhong's stance on this matter before, and every time he felt that he was wronged, this was the first time that Xue Bai's conspiracy was explained from the perspective of the rebels, and he couldn't help but feel chills running down his spine.

Therefore, this letter of surrender gave him the most intuitive feeling that Xue Bai was more terrifying than the rebels.

After all, even the condition for the rebels' surrender was to kill Xue Bai, and then retain their general positions and let them go back to guard Fan Yang and Pinglu.

The news had just come, and many of the noble and senior officials who had just heard about it were very eager to persuade Li Cong to accept the rebels' conditions.

"Your Highness, why are you hesitating?!"

"This matter cannot be made public and will be discussed later."

Li Cong's attitude was very ambiguous. Not only did he not agree, he also ordered everyone not to talk about it. He did not summon Xue Bai immediately, but returned to the East Palace alone to think.

Bian Lingcheng had been following him, observing secretly. After finding an opportunity, he finally asked in a low voice: "What are your concerns, Your Highness?"

Li Cong answered this question simply, spitting out two words quickly.

"Li Heng."

Bian Lingcheng was stunned and realized that he was only focused on saving his life and had ignored this point.

"If we kill Xue Bai, what if, firstly, the rebels repent? Secondly, Li Heng rushes to Shuofang, recruits troops, and keeps an eye on Dandan. If I cut off one of my arms, how can I fight against him?"

"Your Highness is overly worried." Bian Lingcheng said: "This slave destroyed the Xiaobolu Kingdom and conquered Hebei, and he knows a little about military matters. There must be a reason why the rebels surrendered today. My guess is that the first is that the armies of Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi are coming. , Secondly, most of the rebels are Hu generals who are not accustomed to the life in the Central Plains and want to return to the north of the Great Wall. If His Highness is kind and appeases them, they will return to His Highness. "

These words were nice to hear, and Li Cong couldn't help but feel more relaxed.

What Bian Lingcheng is best at is soothing people's hearts. He kept trying again and said: "In this way, Your Highness will guard Chang'an alone and turn the tide. It will be the Optimus Pillar of the Tang Dynasty. It will be the heart of the world and be admired by all people. At that time, Your Highness has a hundred thousand border troops and the people's support. Why should Li Heng fight with His Highness?"

"is it?"

Li Cong finally began to hesitate, pacing and thinking, and murmured: "But all the soldiers and horses in the world are loyal to Your Majesty, only Xue Bai is loyal to me."

What he was referring to was that between him and Li Longji, Xue Bai was one of the very few people who clearly expressed support for him and had the strength. So far, he has not seen anyone who can replace Xue Bai.

Bian Lingcheng said quickly: "I am willing to persuade generals Wang Sili and Li Chengguang for Your Highness. They lost Tongguan and their 200,000 troops died in one day. I am afraid that the saint will blame me, so I will be loyal to Your Highness."

"Is it possible?" Li Cong asked: "They are very close to Xue Bai."

"Don't worry, Your Highness, now Xue Bai has aroused public anger. When the news spreads, all the officials in the city will kill Xue Bai to appease the rebels. These generals in Chang'an City must know what choice to make..."

Bian Lingcheng's words almost convinced himself, and he thought that the rebels were really persuaded to surrender. But it didn't matter, whether the rebels surrendered for real or not, he had already won the game by trying to please both sides.

(End of this chapter)