Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 487: Self-motivated

On the eighteenth day after Yang Guozhong's death, Xue Bai handed an imperial edict to Li Guangbi.

At that time, Li Guangbi was leaning down in the stable, checking the feces of his war horse with his fingers, and observing the health of the horse. It was related to the safety of the horse during marching and fighting. He did not want to rely on others, and he did not care whether it was dirty or not. .

"Don't you wash your hands first?" When Li Guangbi stretched out his hands to take the imperial edict, Xue Bai suddenly asked, showing a kind of respect for the saint, "This is the imperial edict."

"I was rude."

Li Guangbi was a little embarrassed, wiped his hands on his shirt, and ordered his soldiers to fetch water.

Xue Bai was just joking, lightly mocking Li Guangbi's so-called loyalty to the emperor. The important thing is that the content of the imperial edict was Li Longji's commendation and reward for their defense of Chang'an. Although it was not mentioned specifically, it not only encouraged the "Prince" and the "King of Peking", but also recognized the legitimacy of the Chang'an court.

There is also a reward for Li Guangbi, who replaced Wang Chengye as the governor of Hedong. As for Wang Chengye, he was dismissed from office.

"I didn't expect that you actually received the imperial edict." Li Guangbi received the edict respectfully and sighed.

"As I said, I sent someone to escort the saint to Shu County." Xue Bai's tone was matter-of-fact, and he pointed at himself and said: "Loyal minister. As for Li Heng, he proclaimed himself emperor without permission, which is undoubtedly treason."

"How do you explain the fact that the King of Peking asked Yang Guozhong to pretend to be a saint?"

"Yang Guozhong had no choice but to do this in order to protect the saint and guard Chang'an. He knew that he had committed a heinous crime and committed suicide to thank the world."

"Piercing the back of your neck with a candlestick to apologize?" Li Guangbi made a somewhat awkward move and asked, "Stab it like this?"

Xue Bai disagreed and said: "How can Commander Ji be so good at digging his grave? Death is the most important thing."

In the final analysis, those who care about pretending to be the emperor will have Li Longji's imperial edict to appease them; those who don't care about red tape and only care about the defense of Chang'an City will naturally be more likely to side with Xue Bai.

Therefore, he did not intend to dwell on these false etiquettes, and directly pointed the topic at the substantive issues that Li Guangbi was most concerned about.

"Let's get down to business. The food and grass needed by Commander Jie will be delivered in two batches soon. One is from Hanzhong, passing through Ziwu Valley, and the other is coming from Nanyang, passing through Lantian. Please send someone to Commander Ji to station at least in Lingyuan to support them."

Shaoling Plateau is located in the south of Chang'an City, on the high ground between the Chan River and the Chan River. Because it is higher than Chang'an City and guards the Nanshan Passage, it is one of the southern barriers of Chang'an City.

In the past, when the Tang Dynasty was at peace, the Shaoling Plain was often used as a villa for high-ranking officials and nobles. It could be used as a place to garrison troops to ensure the subsequent transportation of grain and grass.

After talking about this matter, Li Guangbi felt satisfied and became closer and more trusting towards Xue Bai. He was willing to invite Xue Bai to his tent to discuss in detail the strategic plan for countering the rebellion.

He took out his old map, which was so densely drawn and scrawled that others couldn't understand it.

"Jie Shuai learned the Kuangcao from Cao Sheng?" Xue Bai now writes well and is qualified to comment on calligraphy.

"Don't dare to take it seriously."

Li Guangbi didn't hear his teasing, and took it as a compliment.

"King of Peiping, please see that the twenty-three counties in Gyeonggi and the nine counties in Fufeng County have been fortified and cleared. Only Jincheng and Wugong counties have been conquered. Now Cui Qianyou wants to attack Xianyang. If he gets Xianyang, he will covet Chang'an again, and If I hold Xianyang, he will go straight to Tongguan and I will burn the bridges on the Weishui River to delay his army."

Xue Bai pointed to the Weishui Bridge and asked, "If you knew his intentions, why not set up an ambush on the Weishui River?"

"Our army does not want a decisive battle. We just want to set up an ambush. If we win a small victory but the rebels do not retreat, should we increase our troops? If we do not increase our troops, once the rebel cavalry is entangled, a small victory will be a small defeat. If we increase our troops, a small number of troops will lead to a major defeat." "Li Guangbi looked serious and said: "Brother Shuhan has learned from the past and must not send troops rashly."

He is different from Wang Rao. Wang Rao likes to charge bravely in battle, while Li Guangbi's several battles in Hebei were almost all outsmarting, and he was really calm.

Xue Bai agreed with his strategic concept, but was a little worried, saying: "It's like locking a beast into our home, with our flocks everywhere. But we have to wait until the beast is exhausted before we fight it."

"Yes, but the last thing we can do is let it go out to bite. There are more sheep outside. We can only stand on the table and wait until it gets tired before we can go out and beat it and tame it."

"I'm worried about long nights and many dreams." Xue Bai removed his finger from the Wei River and placed it on the Yellow River, saying: "You said that the rebels want to attack Tongguan, but what if they cross the Yellow River and attack Taiyuan? We must defend the Yellow River and have more troops. It cannot be placed on the West Bank.”

If we put our troops on the west bank of the Yellow River, they will be swallowed up by the rebels as soon as they come. We have to defend on the east bank. Of course, Li Guangbi will send generals. But the east bank belongs to the Hedong Road, and Taiyuan can affect the Yellow River defense line.

Xue Bai was first worried about Wang Chengye, the governor of Hedong Jiedu, so he used Li Longji's name to depose Wang Chengye. But Wang Chengye had already taken refuge with Li Heng. Once he learned that Xue Bai had an imperial edict to remove him, he would definitely resist.

"Let's be honest, I'm worried about Wang Chengye doing something bad."

Li Guangbi asked: "Does the King of Peiping want me to return to Taiyuan to announce the decree?"

"The defense of Guanzhong is inseparable from Li Jieshuai." Xue Bai asked: "Who do you think can be the deputy envoy of Hedong Jiedu and temporarily take charge of Taiyuan?"

Li Guangbi thought for a while and said: "Wang Jin. He is a direct descendant of the Wang family in Taiyuan and has a great reputation in the world. He has sufficient qualifications and abilities. When I was in Taiyuan, he helped me defend the city and he is a very strategic man."

Of course Xue Bai knew Wang Jin, who was Wang Wei's younger brother.

"Li Jieshuai has a good relationship with him?"

"Yes."

"Then please write a handwritten letter from Li Jieshuai." Xue Bai said: "I will ask the court to appoint Wang Jin, and then the letter can be sent together."

Li Guangbi said: "Do you need me to send someone?"

"Then please ask Commander-in-Chief to send me a general." Xue Bai said, "I want to go to the Yellow River defense line in person."

~~
After leaving Li Guangbi's camp, Xue Bai went to see Yan Jiming and Yuan Jie. These two people specially brought a small number of troops from Jie County to support Chang'an.

Although he didn't really do anything, Xue Bai was about to see them and had something important to say.

The three of them sat down. Xue Bai took out his own map, picked up the charcoal, and drew a circle in the pass.

"This is the sphere of influence that His Highness really has at present."

Then, he drew another circle in the west direction and said: "This is Li Heng's current sphere of influence. Look here, parts of Hebei and Henan, this is the sphere of influence of the rebels."

He did not mention the Qinling Mountains for the time being, which was a place that could be fought for through merit and the name of orthodoxy in the process of countering the rebellion. His finger pointed to Hedong. After he drew three circles, Hedong was exactly in the middle of these three circles. Surrounded.

Only three simple circles clearly reflected the important strategic position of Hedong.

"I met Li Guangbi just now. The saint appointed him as the governor of Hedong. If we have to block the rebels east of the Yellow River, we must deploy defenses in Hedong. We will send another general out of Jingxing to attack Fanyang, leaving An Qingxu with no choice but to completely pacify him. Rebellion."

Xue Bai said and made two more movements with his hands.

He first drew a circle and incorporated Hedong into their sphere of influence, and then drew another circle to include Hebei and Henan.

"In this way, His Highness has pacified almost the entire north. Looking at Li Heng now, he only has the northwest frontier army. He has no food and no name. He will not be able to support him."

As a result, the small circle just assigned to Li Heng was also included in their sphere of influence.

If these steps are taken, and Li Cong regains the two capitals, quells the rebellion, and gets rid of Li Heng, then the world will surely return to its heart. It will be a matter of course to welcome Li Longji back and ask him to abdicate.

Then, the importance of planning for Hedong is equivalent to the saying in "Longzhong Dui" that "Yizhou is a dangerous fortress, with fertile fields thousands of miles away, and a land of abundance. Gaozu became an emperor because of it."

The only difference may be that Xue Bai is not Li Cong's Zhuge Liang. Now their relationship is more like Liu Feng and Liu Bei.

"understood?"

Yan Jiming and Yuan Jie's eyes lit up, and they completely understood the steps to assist Li Cong as the new king.

After guarding Guanzhong, the next step is to completely capture Hedong.

"I understand," Yan Jiming said, "I recruited soldiers in Hedong."

Yuan Jie said: "The salt in the entire Hedong comes from Jiechi."

"Okay." Xue Bai said: "There is an imperial edict here. We also have the general sent by Li Guangbi. There are two appointments here, the judge of Hedong Jiedu and the transfer envoy of Hedong Road. You go to Taiyuan to remove Wang Chengye and win over Wang Jin..."

Yuan Jie said: "If Wang Jin can't be won over?"

Xue Bai said: "Then take it, he was recommended by Li Guangbi."

Now he had to consider Li Guangbi's attitude, so he specifically asked Li Guangbi to recommend him and try to unite the forces that could be united as much as possible.

"I will also write a letter to Wang Jin." Xue Bai said, "In addition, I will cross the Yellow River with you."

Yuan Jie asked: "Going to pick up your confidante?"

When he and Xue Bai were in Dali Temple Prison, they saw Li Tengkong coming to visit him, so he asked this question, but he forgot that Yan Jiming was Xue Bai's brother-in-law.

The atmosphere suddenly became awkward.

"No." Xue Bai remained calm under Yan Jiming's scrutinizing gaze and said, "Get ready as soon as possible without further delay."

~~
When most people were discussing state affairs, Xue Bai spoke in an attitude of assisting His Highness the Crown Prince in reviving the Tang Dynasty.

Even if some of his words were rebellious, they were still cloaked in the guise of universal justice. For example, what Liu Bei always said was "reviving the Han Dynasty" rather than "I want to be the emperor."

Even if someone gets a glimpse of Xue Bai's ambition, they often don't expose it because it's not that far yet. It is entirely too late to wait until the world is at peace and Li Cong succeeds to the throne to discuss it.

Except for a few people who hope to be among the heroes of Yuan Cong, they always like to plot secretly around Xue Bai, such as Yuan Zai.

"Although the saint recognized Lang Jun, he did not declare an edict to deal with Li Heng's crime of treason and proclaiming himself emperor. I'm afraid he still had the idea of ​​'raising gu'."

The term "raising voodoo" was accidentally mentioned by Xue Bai after he returned from Nanzhao. Yuan Zai used it to describe Li Longji's power tactics to balance the forces in the court. For example, Li Linfu was a voodoo raised to deal with the prince, and An Lushan Yet another one.

Obviously, Li Longji now wants to support Li Heng to deal with Li Cong.

Yuan Zai saw through this at a glance because Li Longji agreed to Xue Bai's request not without conditions. He was very determined to let the kings and ministers go to Shu County.

"The saint summoned the ministers to go south in order to build a new court in Nanjing. To meet the kings, he was definitely not caring about the family relationship between father and son. He was bound to entrust the kings to various parts of the world to check and balance the prince. This was still raising gu. Yuan Zai said, "I dare to say that in time, once the saint regains his prestige, he will have to deal with Lang Jun."

"I know." Xue Bai said, "Then what do you think we should do?"

Yuan Zai was silent. What he just said was mainly to express his loyalty to Xue Bai. In fact, he knew in his heart that Xue Bai had his own plans, but he didn't expect that he would ask him for advice.

He thought for a moment and was about to speak when Xue Bai raised his hand.

"Look higher, Mr. Mo, look down. As long as we capture Hedong and quell the rebellion, is it possible that his prestige will rise faster than us?"

"Lang Jun is aware of this, but I'm afraid that Li Heng will definitely block it if we take Hedong."

Xue Bai pondered and said slowly: "I will write a letter to Li Mi. You can send someone to deliver it."

"Here." Yuan Zai said, "What about the ministers and kings that the saint wants?"

"First arrange for a few ministers to serve the saint." Xue Bai said: "Ask who in the court is willing to go."

Yuan Zai worked very neatly and handed a list to Xue Bai the next day.

"General Chen Xuanli of the Longwu Army, Wei Jiansu, the minister under the sect, Xu Anzhen, the minister of the Ministry of Inspection and Engineering, Liu Guangqian, the left minister of the Ministry of War, Bai Qi, the right minister of the Ministry of Personnel..." Xue Bai read the first few words without looking up, with some words. He asked jokingly: "Are there any political opponents among them that you want to suppress?"

"No." Yuan Zai said, "I would never dare to do this, otherwise I would ask Mr. Lang to deprive me of my official position."

"Then let them go to Shu County first." Xue Bai said, "The second group of people are not in a hurry. We will wait for the second batch of grain to arrive."

Just as he was talking, a messenger returned and reported that the rebels had attacked Xianyang County.

Chang'an City, which had only calmed down for less than twenty days, felt the threat of war again. Only this time, with generals like Li Guangbi around, the mentality of the people in the city became much more stable.

~~
In the next two days, Li Guangbi sat in Chang'an and sent generals to support Xianyang. At the same time, he sent out sentry horses to prepare for the rebels to attack Tongguan instead of attacking Xian County.

Gyeonggi-do is like a broken sack carrying a wild beast and letting it bump around inside.

At this time, while Xue Bai was cooperating to stabilize the situation, he was still preparing to go to Jie County.

For two days, he kept hearing people coming to report "The King of Peiping, General Gao wants to see him", but he always answered "no". Until the situation was temporarily stabilized and it was time for him to set out, he went to Tai Chi Palace to see Gao Lishi in person.

In fact, Gao Lishi has a private residence in Chang'an, and now he does not have to be on duty and can go back to his residence. But when Xue Bai arrived, he was sitting under a pear tree in the palace courtyard in a daze.

"King Peiping knows what I want to say, right?"

"You must want to go to Shu County?"

"Yes." Gao Lishi sighed: "Old slave can do nothing else in this life except serve the saint."

Xue Bai said: "The saint will return to Chang'an sooner or later."

There was one sentence he didn't say - "Sages will change sooner or later."

Gao Lishi said: "For those of us who serve people, the important thing is not how much work we do every day, but our loyalty. If the saint is in Shu County, I will not rush over and wait for the saint to come back, let alone me. The saint You can’t live without me, and I can’t live without the saint.”

Xue Bai thought about the night of Shangyuan in the sixth year of Tianbao, when he had to be protected by Gao Lishi. Originally, he wanted to protect Gao Lishi in Chang'an, but on the one hand, it was impossible for him to do it. On the other hand, Gao Lishi didn't want that either. kind of protection.

"Don't worry." Xue Bai said: "I will send you to Shu County, but it will be later."

"Why? I should have been the first to rush to the saint."

Xue Bai was silent for a moment and said, "I just want to delay it."

Gao Lishi smiled and shook his head, sighing: "The imperial concubine must also be sent to the saint. This is the dignity of the saint."

~~
As Xue Bai walked outside the Tai Chi Palace, he couldn't help but think in his heart. Now his daily life is to meet everyone, make plans, discuss conditions, follow the steps, and rarely have accidents happen.

He suddenly stopped and looked at the pear forest next to him.

Faintly, he heard a beautiful singing voice floating over.

"The Emperor of Han was obsessed with sex and wanted to overwhelm the country. Yu Yu couldn't get it for many years..."

Just by listening to this sentence, he already guessed who was singing, and also knew that Yang Yuhuan wanted to talk to him, so he stopped the guard and walked in the direction of the singing alone.

Halfway there, he hesitated, finally hardened his heart, and turned around to leave.

As Li Longji appeared in Shu County, Yang Guozhong also died. Even Chen Xuanli and some of the palace people were sent away, and the imperial army was sent to defend the city. In short, Taiji Palace was very deserted. After Xue Bai walked for a while, he found that he was lost. .

He listened and found that he could not even hear the singing.

So his hurried pace slowed down, he chose a direction and walked leisurely, thinking about going to Jie County to meet Li Tengkong.

Speaking of which, Li Tengkong and Yang Yuhuan are completely two types of women... This thought suddenly appeared in his mind and it was difficult to get rid of it. Xue Bai thought of the dream a few days ago.

Then, he heard movement behind him, turned around, and was stunned for a moment.

He saw Yang Yuhuan trotting over from the corridor. She didn't see him at first. She turned her head and looked around in a searching manner. When she looked back, she was stunned for a moment when she saw him. Her eyes instantly changed from confusion to surprise. .

She seemed to sweat easily, and she clearly hadn't run much. Her cheeks were already a little red, and even her fair shoulders were flushed.

When she saw Xue Bai, she ran to him and whispered: "Why are you so stupid? Are you lost?"

After an inexplicable word, the voices of the palace maids came. Yang Yuhuan quickly stretched out his hand and pushed Xue Bai into the adjacent veranda.

"Shhh."

She was lying on the edge of the door, looking out at the palace maids running past calling "noble concubine". The fragrance on her body was slightly stronger than before.

Xue Bai could see the slight sweat on her skin. He smelled it and was surprised that even her sweat smelled fragrant, and it was a very comfortable fragrance.

"Huh?" Yang Yuhuan turned around, "Why are you looking at me like this?"

She slapped her hot cheeks with her hand. Feeling Xue Bai's unusual look, she took a step back and leaned her body against the door.

The strange thing is that she has obviously lost a lot of weight, but she can still reveal a plump beauty in her movements. She is plump, but in fact there is no trace of fat or clumsiness, but just the right amount of sensuality.

Xue Bai stepped back a little to avoid touching her.

"You promised me to let me go." Yang Yuhuan said, "You don't want to send me to Shu County now, do you?"

"do you want to go?"

Yang Yuhuan glared, put on a ruthless expression, and said, "Of course I don't want to. Since the saint has given me death, I am free."

"Okay, you're free." Xue Bai said, "You can go wherever you want."

"Those palace people looked at me."

"They will no longer restrict you from leaving the palace, you can go."

After Xue Bai finished speaking, he turned around, waved his hand, and urged Yang Yuhuan to leave as soon as possible.

In fact, it would be very troublesome for him to let her go. After all, he was currently negotiating with Li Longji, and the other party's request clearly included sending Yang Yuhuan to Shu County. But a gentleman keeps his promise, and he promised her.

After a while, Yang Yuhuan didn't leave yet, but walked around to Xue Bai.

"Why do you want to save me? You know that if the saint gives me death, I will have nowhere to go, so why do you save me again and again?"

Xue Bai was about to answer when he saw her red lips twitching and asked sarcastically.

"Out of filial piety?"

Her jealous temper was revealed again, and she felt a little proud when she stabbed Xue Bai with words, but more often than not she hurt herself.

Xue Bai thought for a while, but couldn't think of a suitable answer for this situation, and said: "Yes, out of filial piety."

This sentence hurt Yang Yuhuan. She stepped forward, stepped on Xue Bai's boots, stepped on him hard, and asked, "Am I very old?"

Xue Bai did not dodge, he only felt that her behavior was very ridiculous. She finally lost all the aura in front of him when she first met, such as a noble concubine and one of the four beauties. He understood her, a naturally beautiful person, who had never been She couldn't control her own destiny, but she wanted to prove that she could control her own destiny. Sadly, in this era of power, the way she thought she controlled her destiny was actually dependent on the strong.

Therefore, he saved her several times, but it did not help her become stronger.

She couldn't live without him.

Yang Yuhuan stepped on it twice more and raised her eyes to see Xue Bai's reaction to the pain, but found that he was looking at her intently.

The understanding and compassion in his eyes seemed to see through her completely, making her feel ashamed of being naked.

She is not a strong and independent woman at all. She has been a vassal of men all her life. She is very cruel to say "leave". She just wants to win Xue Bai's attention, where can she really go?

"What a filial son and grandson. The saint has given me death, so just let me die."

The embroidered shoes on Xue Bai's boots moved away, and Yang Yuhuan turned around immediately. This was not the first time that she had sought death in front of him, and Xue Bai immediately grabbed her.

"Stop it."

"Why did you save me again? Are you filial?"

Xue Bai shook his head.

Yang Yuhuan stopped trying to break away and instead moved closer to him. Hesitantly, he opened his lips and asked, "Do you... admire me?"

"Boom."

There was a soft sound, and Xue Bai hit the door frame as he stepped back.

He secretly felt that it was Yang Yuhuan who had thoughts about him, and that was why he forced him to drink... From her eyes, he could occasionally feel the affection.

But she asked him first, which put him in a somewhat embarrassing situation.

"is it?"

This answer is obviously very important to Yang Yuhuan. Unlike Xue Bai, she has many important things to distract her energy. This was all she thought about all day long, tortured and desperate for his answer.

She then took another step closer.

Xue Bai had no choice but to retreat and closed his eyes, because she always had an urge to hold her in his arms, and he already felt a little painful.

But he still shook his head.

"I will not follow in the footsteps of Li Longji. Since I look down on him, I will not make the same mistakes as him."

"You also think it's my fault that the world is in chaos?" Yang Yuhuan's eyes suddenly became moist, "You also think I'm the trouble."

"No."

Xue Bai said to be honest, there are many emperors who like beauty, and there are also many people who like beauty and can manage the country. Sometimes, it is greed for power and lust that can urge a man to keep making progress. In today's Tang Dynasty, the pursuit of wealth and beauty is what the world sees as what a man should do.

"Then why did the saint lose the world because of me?" Yang Yuhuan asked.

"He has lost his ambition." Xue Bai said.

He stared at Yang Yuhuan and suddenly realized that it was not so much that Li Longji was obsessed with beauty and ruined the country, but that it was because Yang Yuhuan was so beautiful that Li Longji even lost the will to be aggressive in beauty, so he did not want to change.

The same is true in national affairs. So what if we reform the tax system? Can it still be more prosperous than the prosperous Kaiyuan era?
In the final analysis, Li Longji is old, but he is still young... Yang Yuhuan also feels this deeply.

She asked with some confusion: "What about you? Are you motivated?"

(End of this chapter)