Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 481 Return
Southeast of Taiyuan City, Erlong Mountain has beautiful bells and bells. There is Sanqing Temple in the mountain, which today is the Royal Taoist Temple of the Tang Dynasty.

In mid-March, a group of people came to the Taoist temple along the winding mountain road. The leader, Yang Qixuan, stepped forward and asked the Taoist priest who was sweeping the floor, "May I ask, is Master Kongyang here?"

"A month ago, Kong Yangzi became an immortal."

Yang Qixuan was stunned and didn't know what to do. He had to look back at Diao Geng behind him and asked silently: "What should I do?"

Diao Geng raised his chin and motioned for him to continue inquiring.

"That's right." Yang Qixuan had no choice but to turn to the Taoist priest and said: "The master of the family used to be an official in Changshan County. After the war, he was ordered to return to Beijing by King Qin. The family took refuge in Sanqing Temple. At that time, the master of the temple was still Master Kongyang... "

At that time, Xue Bai went to Taiyuan to invite reinforcements, then returned to Changshan, and then rushed to the plains. The journey was dangerous, so he did not take Li Tengkong, Li Jilan and others with him, but let them stay at Tumen Pass.

Tumen Pass is guarded by Li Sheng and is relatively safe. Including Dugu Wensu and Li Shiyu, who were instigated by Xue Bai to rebel, as well as Diao Bing and Diao Geng who were left to recuperate. They move between Taiyuan and Changshan to help The situation in Hebei. However, Li Longji used Helan Jinming as an envoy to Hebei to attack Xue Bai's power, so they had to keep a low profile under Li Sheng's protection.

When the emperor fled, the attack on Xue Bai's forces in Taiyuan was not so fierce. In addition, the Tang army withdrew from Hebei and Tumen Pass faced the rebel forces. Li Tengkong and Li Jilan came to Sanqingguan to live temporarily.

"Nv Guan? If Mr. Lang is looking for someone, he should go to Qixia Temple on the mountain."

"Thank you."

Yang Qi agreed, and the group continued walking towards the back mountain. Half an hour later, they saw another Taoist temple. It was surrounded by peach blossoms and looked very peaceful.

The door was only ajar, and they couldn't help but be stunned as they pushed it open. Although the environment here looks beautiful, there are many people in ragged clothes sitting in the courtyard. Most of them are women and children with yellow faces and thin muscles. They look weak and don't like to talk. They only cough lightly occasionally.

"this?"

Yang Qixuan immediately covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve and asked the patients vaguely: "Do you know where Tengkongzi and Jilanzi are?"

No one answered him. They were about to walk in when a shout suddenly sounded from behind them.

"Who are you?!"

Turning around, Diao Geng couldn't help but said in surprise: "Brother."

I saw three people coming down from the mountain carrying a wild boar. The leader was Diao Bing. He was injured when he followed Xue Bai from Changshan and was lame. Diao Bing was very surprised to see them coming and couldn't wait to ask: "Is there any new news?"

"Is there room for you? Let's go in and talk."

Passing through the front hall, I saw several women in the courtyard pounding medicine with wooden hammers, wearing dusty Taoist robes. Yang Qixuan glanced at them and quickly passed them. He wanted to continue walking in, but he heard Diao Bing say: "Make a break, someone is coming."

"Brother-in-law?"

Yang Qixuan stopped and looked around. He saw that the face of the female Taoist priest who was speaking was dark and yellow, covered with scabies. He suddenly felt it was an eyesore and asked in shock: "Ah? Are you... the Seventeenth Mother?"

"Yes, my brother-in-law doesn't recognize me."

She spoke calmly, and her calm temperament was indeed Li Tengkong's.

Yang Qixuan then turned to look at the woman next to her. Her hair was fluffy and covered in dust. Her gray face was covered with sores, and there seemed to be some pus that had not dried. She was uglier than Li Tengkong.

"Ji...Ji Lanzi?"

"Mr. Yang is so polite."

"Why are you like this?" Yang Qixuan asked. He looked at Jiao Nu and Mi'er again, but saw that they were not much better. He suddenly understood and said, "Are you pretending?"

"No." Li Jilan shook his head.

Li Tengkong said: "I was treating patients and encountered leprosy, which is leprosy. I accidentally contracted it. It affected them."

Yang Qixuan asked: "How, how did you get infected?"

"In case of scabies, there is heat and heat attached to them, and the qi is unclear. If you get close, you will inhale the scabies, and you will be infected." Li Tengkong said: "First, the skin sores will gradually swell and rupture, and over time they can spread. All over the body, the eyebrows are falling off, the nose is sunken, and the eyes are damaged and the lips are cleft.”

Yang Qixuan was frightened and took two steps back.

"Brother-in-law, don't be alarmed. I have suppressed it with medicine and it is no longer a problem."

"It's okay?" Yang Qixuan asked, "Is this all true? Could it be that... you lied to me?"

"Just don't believe me." Li Tengkong asked, "But is there any news?"

Before, she talked about her illness with a sad and calm expression, but now when she asked for news, her eyes shone with hope.

"Yes, there is news."

Yang Qi Xuanqiang calmed down and did not look at them, saying: "Li Sheng is going to lead his troops to King Qin in Chang'an. Do you want to go back with the army?"

"Back to Chang'an?" Li Jilan asked first, "I heard that Xue Lang is guarding Chang'an, but is it true?"

Her voice was still clear and moving, causing Yang Qixuan to raise his eyes involuntarily. He saw the scarred face again and felt uncomfortable.

He quickly lowered his head and said, "Yes, Mr. Lang is in Chang'an."

"Then let's..."

Li Tengkong stopped Li Jilan and asked, "When General Li comes to Beijing, doesn't he have to give up Tumen Pass?"

She remembered that Xue Bai had told Li Sheng before leaving that Tumen Pass was a fortress connecting Hedong and Hebei, and he must hold on to it.

"The situation is different." Yang Qixuan said: "First, Wang Chengye is aggressive and has cut off the food and grass at Tumen Pass; second, it is said that Shi Siming is about to surrender; third, Chang'an is in danger and urgently needs rescue."

"What's the crisis in Chang'an? Didn't it say that Xue Lang has welcomed back the Holy Master?"

"Alas, this matter is complicated, and I can't explain it clearly to you at the moment." Yang Qixuan seemed a little impatient, and treated them with no courtesy as before, saying: "I came today to ask you whether you want to return to Chang'an with the army. If so. If you go, you will inevitably be in danger; if you don’t go, you will end up in the east of the river..."

"let's go."

"Well, back to Chang'an."

"Without further delay, let's set off tomorrow."

~~
That night, Yang Qixuan and his party crowded with Diao Bing into a side hall in the front yard of the Taoist temple for the night.

I was too tired from traveling these past few days, and soon I heard the sound of snoring one after another.

Diao Bing had already fallen asleep, but at night, he got up, patted Diao Geng's shoulder, and motioned for him to go out with him, and the two brothers walked quietly to the courtyard.

"What's going on? Everyone goes back to Chang'an. Isn't this Lang Jun's arrangement?"

"It counts, but it doesn't count." Diao Geng said: "Lang Jun was trapped in Chang'an and had no information. He sent Yan Jiming to Taiyuan to ask for reinforcements. Li Guangbi decided to go south and transferred Li Sheng."

Diao Bing nodded and asked: "Then who decided to let the two Taoist nuns return to Chang'an?"

"Let me think about it, it wasn't us big guys who said it anyway." Diao Geng scratched his head and said: "At Tumenguan, Li Sheng definitely didn't mention it, and it seems that it wasn't Yang Qixuan who spoke first. It was the one who never mentioned it. Said by the officials who defected to Langjun from the rebels."

"Dugu asked Su?" Diao Bing asked.

The name was easy to remember, so he always remembered that Xue Baice rebelled against Dugu Wensu, one of the rebels.

"No." Diao Geng said, "Another one."

"What's the fish called?"

"Yes, that's him. He said, 'Since we are returning to Chang'an, will Lang Jun's family be brought with us?' What's wrong?"

Diao Bing said: "I find it strange that Chang'an is not completely safe yet, and it is inconvenient to march with the young ladies. How can you bring them back to Chang'an at this time?"

"I'm worried that if something happens if I don't have my care, we are all husband's people, so what's the problem?"

"Well, keep an eye on Yang Qixuan." Diao Bing said, "I don't think he is too upright."

"know."

When the two brothers returned to their residence, they saw that Yang Qixuan was still sleeping deeply, as if he was still having nightmares, and murmured: "Go away, go away."

~~
The next day, everyone had packed up, went down the mountain before dawn, and rode southward. Two days later, they found Li Sheng's soldiers and horses who were marching.

They followed the soldiers and horses and continued southward with the army to understand the county. Li Sheng continued his march south, heading to Li Guangbi's camp at his command, while they entered the city.

"When we get here, you can rest assured." Yang Qi declared.

"Why?"

"This is Lang Jun's territory."

"Xue Lang's territory?" Li Jilan couldn't help but be curious. He rode up and asked, "Xue Lang has never been an official in Jie County."

Yang Qixuan was originally a little lucky, thinking that their faces were just pretending, but they still looked like this all the way.

Seeing Li Jilan approaching, he even pulled the reins and moved aside in fear to avoid being infected.

"Jiechi, Salt Lake. This is the place where the imperial court first tried out the salt law. The officials were all recommended by Yang Wei..."

Halfway through, Yang Qixuan saw someone coming to greet him. He was too lazy to say any more and said, "They are coming."

Yuan Jie, one of the five sons of Chunwei, came here, not to welcome them, but to meet Yan Jiming, Dugu Wensu, Li Shiyu and others who were in the army. Everyone can indeed be regarded as Xue Bai's people, at least they are all close to Xue Bai.

They were also very surprised when they saw the faces of Li Tengkong and Li Jilan, but in this case, they still said what they said before.

Yang Qixuan completely gave up after hearing this, feeling sorry for these two beauties, and then silently moved further away, watching with cold eyes. He felt that Li Jilan had no self-awareness, and now that he was so ugly, he still cared about Xue Bai's news.

Although Yuan Jie was the county magistrate, he did not lead them to the county government office, but to the post house. The post house was surrounded by banks, salt shops, and a Fengwei restaurant. Xue Bai's influence must be indispensable.

"Chang'an is still here."

Among the officials, Yan Jiming, although the youngest, understood the situation best. He led everyone to the map, pointed and talked.

"No one expected that Xue Lang could manage to hold Chang'an City for so long. Not only the rebels, but also King Zhong must have been unexpected. Li Guangbi had originally planned to go to Shuofang to see King Zhong, but he was moved."

Dugu asked Su Fusu and praised, "Fortunately Yan Langjun was able to convince him."

"I didn't persuade him." Yan Jiming pointed to Huayin on the map and said, "It was our soldiers who impressed Li Jieshuai with their tangible achievements."

At this point, his tone became excited.

"With less than 2,000 men, they crossed the Pass, falsely attacked Lantian, and alerted the main force of the rebels. After that, they attacked more than 200 miles of mountain roads in one day, attacked Huayin, cut off the rebels' supply line, and killed them. An Qingze, the son of An Lushan!" Everyone was surprised. Even if they knew the general plan, they did not expect that this small army could achieve such results.

Yan Jiming asked: "Guess what they did next?"

"Stick to Huayin?"

"No." Yan Jiming said: "They drove the defeated rebels and continued to advance eastward, attacking Tongguan where the rebels were heavily stationed. They occupied the Kengshujing Valley between the north and south connecting cities, blocked the forbidden ditch, and handed the news to Yuan Yuan. Knot."

Yuan Jie nodded, pointed at the map between Huayin and Tongguan, and said: "Cui Qianyou sent three thousand cavalry to attack with the Tongguan rebels. They set up an ambush at the entrance of Jinggou. This battle was thunderous and the sky was shaken. The rebels They were defeated and nearly a thousand people were lost. In this way, the rebels had more than 100,000 elite cavalry, but they were cut off by 2,000 men and attacked fiercely on both sides of Tongguan for several days. "

"It's so powerful."

"I don't know which general is leading the army. After this battle, it will definitely be powerful in Guanzhong."

Yan Jiming said: "Li Jieshuai asked the same question. He didn't know at first that it was only a small group of less than 2,000 soldiers that achieved such a victory. He thought it was supported by a large group of officers and soldiers from the south. After marching here, we got After learning the details, he was extremely surprised and asked me the name of the general. I said he had no name. "

"No name?"

"The general's name is Lao Liang, and he never knew his last name; the deputy general's name is Fan Lao, and he was originally a small official in Henan Prefecture."

The Diao brothers looked at each other and straightened their backs, feeling proud of themselves.

The rebels who defeated the famous generals Gao Xianzhi and Ge Shuhan were rampaged by such two little people. How could they not feel proud?

"Of course, the casualties in this battle were also extremely heavy." Yuan Jie said, "I sent troops across the Yellow River several times to support them, but the rebels were very strong. When Li Jieshuai arrived, there were only more than 500 people left at Jinggoukou. Li Jieshuai felt the cruelty and no longer hesitated, and immediately crossed the river and captured Tongguan. "

Having said this, Dugu Wensu said: "That's inappropriate."

"Please give me some advice from Dugu Gong."

"The art of war emphasizes that 'the enemy must be surrounded', otherwise the enemy soldiers will lose their way out and their will to fight will be strong. The pass is dangerous and the rebels have only one way out of Tongguan. Once they are captured by Li Jieshuai, they will strengthen their determination to fight decisively." Dugu asked Su Su. He said, "If I were Cui Qianyou and saw that the Tang army was trying to attack Tongguan, I would send reinforcements back. However, if Tongguan could no longer be defended, I would attack Chang'an instead..."

Li Jilan didn't quite understand what they said before. He only knew that the situation was getting better, so he became nervous at this time, carefully interjected, and asked: "What about Chang'an?"

Dugu asked Su Su, "Is there any news from Chang'an?"

"Wait a moment."

Yuan Jie hurried out and came back after a long time. His face turned pale and he said: "Chang'an City is completely surrounded, and the news cannot be delivered in or out."

"I'm still in a hurry." Dugu Wensu said: "If you follow my plan, you should save Chang'an first, and then leave Huayin. By then, the rebels will be running back and forth, and they will definitely want to retreat."

"It doesn't matter if we come. Li Jieshuai has already attacked Tongguan and will surely support Chang'an within three to five days."

Dugu Wensu nodded, but his eyes were worried. In his opinion, there is no food in Chang'an for a long time, and it is not known whether it can be defended for three to five days, even if it can be defended. The rebels have no way out and must fight Li Guangbi, which is definitely not a good thing.

His worries soon infected others. Everyone originally came with the longing to return to Chang'an, but now they were only worried.

~~
"Tengkongzi, are you worried about Xue Lang?"

After settling down, Li Jilan couldn't help but ask Li Tengkong.

Li Tengkong shook his head and said calmly: "Everyone has his own destiny, so what's the use of worrying?"

"We haven't seen him for so long, don't you miss him?"

"I don't want to." Li Tengkong said: "The world is in chaos. This is not the time for children to love each other. He has his own things to do, and I also have mine."

Li Jilan said: "I used to blame Xue Lang for leaving you in Hedong for so long, but now I know that he was so dangerous in Chang'an. I blamed him wrongly."

"I can go wherever I want to go. He can't throw it away."

Li Tengkong still had the same aloof attitude, but after arriving at Xie County, she tossed and turned for two consecutive nights, unable to sleep.

Two days later, Yan Jiming, Yuan Jie and others decided to cross the Yellow River with the soldiers and horses left behind in Jie County to support Chang'an City. Li Tengkong originally wanted to go, but knew that he should not cause further trouble.

When she was in Changshan, she insisted on returning to Xue Bai, but she encountered a rebellion. After all, she felt a little ashamed, so she waited in Jie County with peace of mind.

It was night, when she and Li Jilan were still making medicine in the post house, they heard faint shouts from afar.

"Good news! Good news..."

"Take Kongzi, do you hear me?"

"Go and have a look."

They rushed to the lobby of the post house and saw that Dugu Wensu, Yang Qixuan and others had already arrived.

"Chang'an...Chang'an is guarded!"

"Really?"

"Yes!"

Li Tengkong didn't want to listen to the various news they shared after that. He just wanted to know more about Xue Bai and her relatives. I thought to myself: "Ji Lanzi, why don't you ask?"

Finally, before Li Jilan could speak, the updated information arrived.

"It's the King of Beiping! Lang Jun is the King of Beiping. He led his troops to guard Chang'an!"

"The King of Peiping is unrivaled in the limelight, and he is already the greatest contributor to putting an end to the chaos!"

"..."

Listening to Xue Bai's achievements in Chang'an, not to mention Li Tengkong and Li Jilan, even Yang Qixuan felt admiration. In addition to admiration, he also had a kind of surprise that he finally made the right bet.

"King of Peiping." Yang Qixuan murmured these three words, unable to estimate Xue Bai's future.

He found that what he wanted most right now was to follow Xue Bai. I even feel that the beautiful young lady I always liked in the past is too shallow. Beauty is fleeting, and a man is most satisfied when he starts a big career.

From now on, the entire family will be proud of him, and his name will be written in the most important position on the family tree of this generation.

Here Yang Qixuan was still ecstatic, but a subordinate suddenly came in and reported: "The Cui people have entered the city."

"Cui Zhong? Who is it?" Yang Qixuan was puzzled.

"He is from Wang Chengye." Dugu Wensu muttered: "He has surrendered to King Zhong, how can he enter the city at this time?"

"what for?"

"King Zhong accuses Lang Jun of being rebellious, and he certainly doesn't want to see Jun Xue successfully defend Chang'an City. The Cui people are not coming here to support him."

Only then did Yang Qixuan realize that something was wrong and asked, "Then who is he?"

"How did he enter the city?" Li Tengkong suddenly asked.

Yang Qixuan then remembered and quickly sent his men to investigate.

After a while, the man came back. Before he could speak, Li Tengkong suddenly asked, "But Li Shiyu let Cui Zhong into the city."

"Yes."

Dugu Wensu was greatly surprised and asked, "Did you read that correctly?"

"He read it right." Li Tengkong said, "I think Li Shiyu has been loyal to the king a long time ago."

"what?!"

The person who jumped in shock this time was Yang Qixuan, who said with an incredulous attitude: "How could it be possible? Didn't Li Shiyu personally instigate the rebellion?"

In short, he personally watched Li Shiyu transform from An Lushan's staff to Xue Bai. Since then, he has been working hard to put down the rebellion.

A former traitor could do this, if not out of loyalty to Xue Bai, then why?
"Others don't remember, but I happen to know that Li Shiyu was demoted by my grandfather, and my grandfather did not accuse him unjustly. He was part of the Zhongwang family a long time ago. At that time, Zhongwang was still the prince."

Li Tengkong said, and as he spoke, he glanced at Diao Bing.

In fact, when they were in Taiyuan, she was the one who asked Diao Bing to ask who was going to take them back to Chang'an. She didn't think this was an order from Xue Bai, and she thought to herself, "Xue Bai wouldn't be so anxious to see me."

When she learned that it was Li Shiyu's suggestion, she became cautious. Because she had been working with Xue Bai on the official affairs of the Prime Minister's Office for some time, she had seen Li Linfu's official documents and rosters, and she had seen Li Shiyu as Li Heng's confidant. Xue Bai must have known about this from the beginning, so he was sure to be able to turn Li Shi Yuce from the rebels.

If Xue Bai followed Xue Bai's plan at that time and controlled the rebellion at the early stage, he would have enough time to turn Li Shiyu from Li Heng's person to his. But then too many things happened. Tongguan fell, the emperor fled, Li Heng proclaimed himself emperor, and then the conflict between Xue Bai and Li Heng suddenly broke out.

In this case, Li Shiyu would definitely choose Li Heng.

"I believe that Li Shiyu must be loyal to the Tang Dynasty." Li Tengkong continued, looking at Dugu Wensu, nodded, and said: "But he is afraid that he will be deceived by King Zhong, and many things are not true or false."

Dugu Wensu let out a long sigh and said: "Since the rebellion, we have all seen what the saint, King Qing, King Zhong, and King Peking have done. I never thought that he would make such a choice. "

Yang Qixuan originally looked at Dugu Wensao with some suspicion. Hearing this, he breathed a long sigh of relief and asked, "Then what should we do?"

Li Tengkong said: "The people from Cui are not good. Please ask Dugu Gong to persuade Li Shiyu and ask him to change his mind. Can you?"

"Okay." Dugu asked Susu, "I hope I can live up to my trust."

"Dugu Gong, be careful." Li Tengkong Wanfu said.

"Ms. Li, take care."

After that, Dugu Wensu glanced at Diao Bing and Diao Geng and strode away.

Yang Qixuan looked at his back and said, "He is Li Shiyu's brother-in-law. Can you trust him?"

"I can't believe it." Li Tengkong said, "Didn't you notice? It was he who deceived Yan Jiming, Yuan Jie and others with his words, making them rush to save Chang'an. They were all Li Heng's people from the beginning."

"This, this, this, what are they going to do?"

"Jiezhou is not only an important place from Hedong to Guanzhong, but also has a salt pond. How could Wang Chengye not win it for Li Heng?"

Yang Qixuan thought about it carefully, his spine went cold, and he murmured: "In other words, during this time in Hebei, Dugu Wensu and Li Shiyu had already contacted Wang Chengye? Then, that, that, that, Li Sheng, Li Guangbi... Let’s run away!”

"Don't run away." Li Tengkong said, "This is Jie County, a place where Xue Bai has been running for a long time. They can't scare me away here."

(End of this chapter)