Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 489: Clear Sky
Light smoke rose from the cauldron and a layer of oil floated up. Gradually, the water began to boil, and the aroma filled the air, making the surrounding Yan soldiers stretch their necks to smell it.

Behind the camp was the place where the meat had just been slaughtered, and there were still traces of blood on the ground.

The wind blew, and a few strands of hair were blown up, higher and higher, floating near the central army tent. Faintly, the sound of the Yan army's quarrels was also blown over, as if they were saying something like "The meat between the breasts should be eaten by General Xie".

When Tian Chengsi strode into the tent, Cui Qianyou was looking at a map with his hands behind his back. He turned around and saw him coming, so he personally took out a wine bag and threw it over.

"Did you get the food?"

"We fell into a trap." Tian Chengsi said, "There was no food or fodder at Pujindu, so we were ambushed and the Tang army killed hundreds of us."

As he spoke, he wiped the blood off his face before drinking. The blood was not from the battle, but from his beheading of a defeated general.

Cui Qianyou asked: "Where is the boat?"

"It's obvious that there are no ships. The Tang army wants to trap us in Guanzhong."

"I should have captured Chang'an at that time." Cui Qianyou's eyes were still ruthless.

"You make it sound like we can take it down." Tian Chengsi didn't think Cui Qianyou made a mistake. At that time, they had divided their troops and Li Guangbi had cut off their baggage supply. If they continued to linger outside Chang'an, they would suffer heavy losses. "Let's focus on the present. If we want to return to Fanyang, we have to attack Tongguan, but Tongguan is heavily guarded."

"No hurry." Cui Qianyou said, "Let me think about how to fight the next battle."

"We ran into obstacles everywhere in Guanzhong, and we still fought." Tian Chengsi complained, then stroked the hard beard on his chin and said, "Our rebellion was not a failure. At least we got rid of the old tyrant. It was worth it."

The reason he said this was because he had a premonition that he was at the end of his rope. After laying the groundwork, he said, "I thought the conditions offered by Li Heng were good, two Jiedushi positions, and still leading the troops under his command... It turned out to be a trap. Tell me, was it Li Heng who fooled us, or was it Li Cong?"

Cui Qianyou said in a cold tone: "If you want good conditions for surrender, you have to kill them ruthlessly and terrify them. Otherwise, the Tang army will kill us 'evil leaders' and reorganize our troops."

"Food, fodder, and morale..."

"You don't have to worry about food and morale." Cui Qianyou said firmly, "There is more."

"It's almost sold out, how much more can it have?" Tian Chengsi drank the wine in the bag, turned his head and looked inside the tent, and asked, "Where are the maids in your tent?"

"It's used as military rations."

Tian Chengsi was stunned for a moment, and then he said after a long while: "Don't give it to me, or I will quarrel with you."

Cui Qianyou was too lazy to pay attention to him and asked, "Do you think people in Chang'an City have started to eat each other?"

"Maybe."

"If Chang'an runs out of food, Li Guangbi will surely want us to retreat and will not be able to hold Tongguan." Cui Qianyou said, "In other words, Chang'an City has food supplies."

Tian Chengsi asked: "From where?"

Cui Qianyou drew a mark on the map and made a guess. Then he looked at the time and closed his eyes without saying a word.

After a while, scouts came back one after another and reported the intelligence they had gathered.

One of the scouts reported: "I have learned that the Tang army will transport a batch of food and grass from Hedong to Chang'an via Pujin Ferry in a few days."

"Heh." Cui Qianyou sneered.

"Should I... go and investigate again?"

"roll."

Wang Chengsi was impatient and kicked the scout out. Since he had been fooled once, he would not be fooled a second time.

Gradually, more intelligence was obtained, and they were able to piece together the supply situation in Chang'an.

"It's not hard to guess that the grain must have been transported from the Qinling Mountains."

"Let's go here."

Cui Qianyou pointed to the mark on his map, where there were three crooked words written: "Shaolingyuan".

~~
Jie County.

Since Wang Jin had come, after meeting Xue Bai, he also went to meet a group of officials brought by Xue Bai. He used these people to govern Taiyuan, which was considered to be completely in favor of the Beiping Wang party.

This group of officials were all very young. Among them, Wang Jin knew Yuan Jie and Yan Jiming. Although he did not know the others, he had heard of their talents.

"This is Chang Gun, a Jinshi in the 12th year of Tianbao. He was formerly the Crown Prince's official. Now he may be appointed as a chief clerk in Taiyuan County."

"Meet Wang Shaoyin."

"I've read his poems in the newspaper. They're very good." Wang Jin commented casually, and then said to Xue Bai, "I don't know how many talents the world has discovered when Wang of Beiping runs a newspaper."

"Yes." Xue Bai was not modest, and said jokingly: "Because of this newspaper, all the talents in the world are within my reach."

Wang Jin felt a little embarrassed because he quoted Emperor Taizong's words, and did not dare to answer, so he looked at another person.

"The Fifth Qi."

Xue Bai then introduced a middle-aged man who was over 40 years old and was calm and taciturn. He said, "He entered the government in the 14th year of Kaiyuan and served in many important positions. He once helped Wei Jian to open up the canal. Later, he was implicated and demoted to Xujiang County Magistrate. A few years ago, I recommended him to return to the court to serve. This time, he followed Yuan Jie to Taiyuan to serve as a deputy envoy of the Ministry of Finance. He will definitely be of great help to Wang Shaoyin."

Wang Jin saw that although Diwu Qi had been demoted many times and held a low official position, he exuded an air of strength and majesty, so he knew that this person was no simple man.

Just now, Chang Gun was just a young man who had just entered the officialdom, and Wang Jin did not take him seriously. But now he realized that the people Xue Bai arranged around him were all powerful people, which shows his determination to control Taiyuan Prefecture.

"Greetings, Shao Yin Wang." Diwu Qi was a very straightforward person. He stepped forward and greeted him, then said, "The reason I came to Hedong was to recommend myself to the King of Beiping. The most important thing for the country now is to suppress the rebellion, and the army that suppresses the rebellion needs money and food. I think that apart from Jianghuai, the only way to pay for the military expenses is to monopolize salt."

"No hurry, no hurry." Wang Jin could sense Diwu Qi's strength, waved his hand, and said with a smile: "Let's talk after I take office."

Xue Bai expressed his support for this group of officials at the right time, saying: "Chang'an cannot rely solely on Shujun for food, but also needs support from Hedong. After suppressing the rebellion, it is imperative to reform the tax system. After you take office, you must start measuring the land and use this rebellion to return the hidden population of the gentry to the households. You are all still very young, and you need to take a long-term view. The opportunity to make achievements lies not only in suppressing the rebellion, but also in reforming the accumulated problems."

Of course, according to the current situation, the rebellion is about to be quelled, and the impact is not serious. Accordingly, various reforms in the future can be more adequately prepared and do not need to be too radical, so as to reduce the pain in the reform process.

Xue Bai had high expectations for Hedong. Long before he entered the government, when he assisted Yang Xun as prime minister, he had already started to try out salt tax in Hedong, and then asked Wang Zhongsi to guard Hedong. Now he came again to make Hedong a base that could not only suppress rebellion, but also protect Guanzhong and provide some money and grain to Chang'an.

"Prince of Beiping, there is urgent military information!"

As they were talking, a messenger quickly walked in and handed a letter of information to Xue Bai.

Wang Jin was very curious. Seeing Xue Bai spread out the intelligence and read it, he asked, "But the situation has changed."

Perhaps to strengthen Wang Jin's confidence, Xue Bai did not hide the truth from him and said directly, "The rebels are heading south."

"Attack Tongguan?"

"Looking at their movements, they are likely to attack Shaolingyuan and seize our military food supply."

Wang Jin asked, "Should we send someone to alert Marshal Li Jie immediately?"

"No need." Xue Bai said calmly, "This is still the plan that Li Guangbi and I made to lure the enemy."

Wang Jin raised his eyebrows slightly, and his eyes calmed down.

Xue Bai walked to the map, pointed to the south of Chang'an, and said, "Shaolingyuan is bordered by Chang'an in the north, Qinling Ziwu Valley in the south, Ying River in the west, and Shenheyuan in the east. The terrain is low in the north and high in the south. The rebels want to cut off our food supply, so they can only attack from the northeast, attacking the hillside. The terrain here is complex, which is not conducive to cavalry attacks."

"Marshal Li Jie wants to fight him?"

"No." Xue Bai said, "If the rebels arrive, our army will retreat into Ziwu Valley."

"What about the Chang'an food?"

"When the rebels attack Shaolingyuan with all their might, I will personally supervise the transportation of a batch of food and fodder from Hedong to Chang'an."

Wang Jin said: "The terrain along this road is flat. What if the rebels learn of our movement in advance?"

"I have deliberately spread the word and told them." Xue Bai said, "If they believe it, they will definitely send more scouts. But I guess, after the ambush at Pujin Ferry last time, they will not believe it. Pujin Ferry is not far from Chang'an, and the opportunity to rob me is fleeting."

"But how much food and grass can be transported like this?"

"We don't ask for much. As long as we can wait until An Qingxu escapes from Luoyang and Cui Qianyou's army is demoralized, that will be enough. By then, the rebels will be trapped in the complex terrain of the Qinling Mountains. Our army only needs to control Shenheyuan to defeat them."

Wang Jin looked at the map for a long time, bowed deeply, and said, "It is a blessing for the country to have the advice of the King of Beiping and General Li Jie."

~~
When Xue Bai returned to the inn, it was already dark.

There was a wall between his residence and Li Tengkong's courtyard, and a wind chime was hung on the eaves of the wall. The wind chime was usually silent because Xue Bai stuffed a strip of cloth inside it. He took the strip of cloth off after he came back and tapped it, which made a crisp sound.

The bell rang three times, but no candles were lit in the room over there. Instead, Jiao Nu's snoring could be heard faintly, which Xue Bai was very familiar with. When he was in Du's house, Jiao Nu not only snored but also talked in his sleep when he slept in the main room.

But after waiting for a long time, Li Tengkong still did not come out.

"Fell asleep?"

Xue Bai muttered to himself and went back to his room to sleep.

At midnight, he heard some noise while half asleep, and opened his eyes. Under the moonlight, he saw Li Tengkong tiptoeing over with his shoes in his hands. His sneaky image was very different from his usual calm demeanor.

Because of his experience with the Du sisters, he had learned a lesson. After the soft body got into the bed, he asked, "Didn't you hear the bell just now?"

"He was suppressed by Ji Lanzi."

Xue Bai clamped her cold feet with his calves to cover them. He measured her height with his body and confirmed that it was Li Tengkong.

Yes, who else could it be? He thought to himself that he was too suspicious.

"Come to think of it, they all know about our relationship, so why bother?"

"Ji Lanzi doesn't know."

"I think she knows."

"No, I hid it very well."

In private, Li Tengkong also spoke in a coquettish tone, put his hands on Xue Bai's abdomen and covered it, and said: "Besides, even if she really knew, I don't want to be intimate with you in public."

"why?"

"I am a cultivator."

"Okay." Xue Bai said, "Let's go back to Chang'an in a few days."

Li Tengkong's body stiffened slightly, and he whispered, "I prefer to stay outside of Chang'an with you. The world is vast, and I'm very happy these days in Jie County. But it's good to return to Chang'an. It can be seen that the rebellion is about to be quelled, and the world will suffer less."

She was the only one who cared about others when she was with Xue Bai. Du Jin never cared about the lives of others. Even though Du Jin was very gentle, her gentleness was mostly for the people she cared about. On the contrary, Li Tengkong was the kindest. Perhaps the kindness that Li Linfu lacked was in his daughter.

"Don't worry, it will be done soon." Xue Bai said, "The Tang Dynasty is strong and powerful, and rebellions have never been difficult to quell... As long as we handle the internal power struggle well."

"Then you can go and pick up Yan Yan, right?"

"Yes, after we recover Luoyang, maybe before the Mid-Autumn Festival."

"so good."

Xue Bai could sense that Li Tengkong didn't really like going back to Chang'an. As the daughter of a treacherous prime minister, she could feel the slander people were saying about her the most when she was in Chang'an. Besides, outside of Chang'an, she could stay with Xue Bai freely without worrying about being seen by others. He then touched her head and said, "Don't worry, we can stay together even when we return to Chang'an."

"I'm afraid that others will criticize your identity because of me."

"No." Xue Bai said jokingly: "Things are different now. I have the final say in Chang'an City."

"Covering the sky with one hand, like my grandfather used to do?" Li Tengkong asked with some reminder.

"No." Xue Bai shook his head and said, "There are some things I can't do anything about."

Li Tengkong came forward and blocked his mouth, preventing him from speaking any more.

Although she was a Taoist priest, she sometimes couldn't help but lust after his face and body.

~~
On the same night, in Qingcheng Mountain, thousands of miles away.

There is a temple in the mountain. It has now been replaced with a new plaque with three big characters "Longju Temple" inscribed on it. There are layers of guards inside and outside the temple walls.

In the largest meditation room behind the main hall of Qingdeng Ancient Buddha, music could be heard.

When the music stopped, the girl playing the pipa stood up. The candlelight reflected her graceful figure on the window. After waiting for a long time, she took off her clothes, lowered her head, and turned around the screen.

Candlelight flickers.

Behind the screen, the girl playing the pipa lay on the couch. Li Longji, with his white hair, narrowed his old eyes, stared at her youthful body, walked forward, leaned over, and sniffed with the tip of his nose.

His breath was strong, spraying on the delicate skin, and the old man's smell on his body entered the woman's nose, inevitably making it smell a little bit.

She looked over and saw her white hair like a bunch of pear blossoms moving back and forth on her body, and sometimes she could see deep wrinkles. She was finally so scared that she began to tremble, but she didn't dare to whimper.

"Do you burn incense?" Li Longji asked.

"This servant... this servant is wearing benzoin."

"I didn't smell it." Li Longji said.

"The slave really did use incense."

The girl sniffed it and indeed could smell her own faint fragrance besides the old man's scent.

But Li Longji was still unhappy, shook his head, and whispered to himself: "I didn't smell it."

The girl didn't understand, what would happen if she didn't smell the fragrance.

Li Longji stroked her for a while, sat up, and said, "Let's talk about music. You and I just played a piece together. What do you think?"

"I don't know. That song... I have been practicing it according to the score for ten years."

"What are your own insights?"

"This slave... has no understanding."

Li Longji turned his head and took a look, and found that although the woman had a beautiful face, her eyes were very empty, and there was no admiration in them that those concubines and beauties had shown him before.

He then became puzzled and asked, "Don't you want to serve me?"

"I am willing! I am very willing!" the girl said anxiously and fearfully with a trembling voice.

But in fact, she couldn't feel any charm of the old man in front of her.

She was originally the dancer of the county magistrate. Although the magistrate was not young anymore, he possessed power and often made her feel admired.

As for the saint in front of her, although he could make the county magistrate bow and scrape, when she was close to him, she could sense that he was faintly fearful and anxious. He was eager to conquer her, as if to prove something, but he didn't have the ability to conquer her.

It was her fault that she had never been out of Qingcheng Mountain, had little knowledge, had never heard of the saint's brilliant past, and could not appreciate the beauty of music. She couldn't even lie.

Facing such a woman, Li Longji was bored and waved his hand, saying, "Practice according to the rules? Go, you country woman, you have lost the chance to sleep with me."

……

The next day, Lu Qi rode a fast horse to Qingcheng Mountain, and hurriedly entered the palace to meet the emperor. He reported: "Your Majesty, the expansion of Xuanzhong Temple has been preliminarily completed. Your Majesty can return to the temporary palace to stay."

"Let's set off tomorrow." Li Longji asked, "Have the people from Chang'an arrived?"

"It's almost time. The kings and ministers have already passed Hanzhong." Lu Qi said, "We are just waiting for Your Majesty to return to the palace."

"Okay, okay, I want to see Taizhen." Li Longji said.

Lu Qi was stunned and hesitated before replying, "Your Majesty, the Imperial Concubine does not seem to be in this team... However, Prince Zhong has sent someone to bring Concubine Mei, Lady Fan and other concubines."

"That's enough." Li Longji said coldly, "What's the purpose of Xue Bai holding Taizhen hostage?"

"According to the messenger, in Chencang, His Majesty has already ordered the execution of the imperial concubine."

Lu Qi was halfway through his words when he felt the terrible pressure from the emperor and quickly stopped talking.

Li Longji said: "Send an order to Chang'an. If I can't see Taizhen before the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, I will bring Li Cong and Xue Bai to justice."

"But rebellion..."

"Then they will be the biggest rebellion!"

Lu Qi's forehead was covered with cold sweat and he quickly obeyed the order.

He has understood what the sage means. Compared to the overall situation of the world, the sage now cares more about Yang Guifei.

But what he didn't understand was, since the saint cared so much about the imperial concubine and could ignore the overall situation of the world, why did he order the execution of the imperial concubine and abandon her in Chencang?
~~
Xue Bai collected food and fodder and personally escorted them back to Chang'an. More than ten days later.

It took him more than a month to go back and forth. It was almost June and the weather was getting hot.

The first thing Xue Bai did after returning to Chang'an was to meet Li Guangbi and ask about the battle situation.

After not seeing each other for over a month, Li Guangbi's hair had turned a lot whiter, and his temples had turned gray, but his demeanor remained calm.

"When Cui Qianyou attacked Shaolingyuan, we had already withdrawn our troops. Some of them retreated to Chang'an, and some retreated to Ziwu Valley, leaving only an empty camp. The rebels are still stationed there, intending to cut off our food supply and compete with us to see who can cut off the food supply later."

"Can their food and fodder hold up?"

"Yes, they eat people."

Xue Bai frowned and paced anxiously, which was rare for him.

The reason why he trapped the rebels in Guanzhong was to annex this army. Otherwise, he would let them go out of Tongguan and then chase them all the way, causing more casualties.

But he didn't want soldiers who had eaten human flesh, fearing that an uncontrollable situation would arise in the future.

Of course, the decisive battle has not yet arrived, but it will be soon.

While discussing strategy with Li Guangbi, a messenger came in quickly and said, "King of Beiping, there is an order from Shu County, and it is for you."

Xue Bai then said goodbye to Li Guangbi and went to receive the imperial edict. After reading it, he was silent.

He could sense a hint of anxiety in Li Longji's writing. In fact, it might not be for Yang Yuhuan, but for his dignity, or for his endless nostalgia for the peaceful life in the past. He was very persistent, even a little crazy.

If it was a normal power struggle, everyone would threaten each other and test each other's bottom line when negotiating conditions, because there is indeed a bottom line. But Li Longji's edict was crazy and disregarded the bottom line. If Xue Bai did not hand over Yang Yuhuan, then everyone would be finished.

~~
Two days later, Taiji Palace.

Yang Yuyao came to visit Yang Yuhuan today. She couldn't help but praise Yang Yuhuan for her good complexion and smooth and radiant skin. Then she talked about some trivial matters, saying that she had dinner with Xue Bai, the Du sisters, and Li Shiqi Niang yesterday.

Although the Tang Dynasty was now open-minded, women often dared to interact with men. But on the other hand, these women were often very strong and could not tolerate men flirting with other women.

In other words, although these women all like Xue Bai, they may not tolerate other women. The fact that they can gather them together shows Xue Bai's ability.

But Yang Yuyao was still somewhat jealous, and came to complain to her sisters.

"I couldn't do anything about it before, but from now on, don't expect me to tolerate his new lover again!"

"Third sister is not his legal wife, so she is too controlling." Yang Yuhuan ate a cherry, spit out the seeds into her hand, and said, "Oh, it's so sour."

"What do you mean?" Yang Yuyao was surprised and annoyed, and asked, "Who are you speaking for?"

Yang Yuhuan said nonchalantly, "I'm just telling the truth. How many good things are there in men? If I'm right, he went there specifically to pick up Li Shiqi Niang, right? In fact, they are from the same clan."

"So what if we're from the same clan? He's still my sworn brother." Yang Yuyao lowered her voice and said, "But don't tell anyone else about this. You and I know it."

"Promise, you owe me a favor?"

"I came here to chat with you and relieve your boredom, but I owe you a favor?"

"No matter." Yang Yuhuan smiled, "If you want me to keep it a secret, then you owe me one."

"Who are you trying to seduce with such a smile?" Yang Yuyao stretched out her hand and hooked her chin, looking quite like a fox.

Then, Zhang Yunrong entered and reported, "The King of Beiping is meeting General Gao in the side hall."

"Why is he coming here at this time?" Yang Yuhuan was a little confused.

"Come with me." Yang Yuyao said, and stood up and took two steps out to greet him.

Soon, Xue Bai entered the hall. He first exchanged glances with Yang Yuhuan from a distance, then he avoided her gaze and was held by Yang Yuyao.

This time, with Yang Yuyao present, it was much easier to speak directly. Xue Bai quickly took out the imperial edict. Yang Yuhuan looked at it and stopped making a fuss, but there was a hint of sadness in her eyes.

"What do you think?" she asked softly.

Xue Bai said: "For the sake of the overall situation, we must send another group of people south. This time, Gao Lishi will be the chief envoy. I will send people to protect him, and the imperial concubine will naturally go with him."

Hearing this, Yang Yuhuan was stunned, surprise and disappointment flashed in her beautiful eyes, and she murmured: "For the overall situation, right?"

"Yes."

Xue Bai paced a few steps in the hall, looked around, and made sure that no one was eavesdropping before continuing, "But now the rebels have occupied Shaolingyuan and blocked Ziwu Valley. The team can only go west and see if they can go through Chencang Road."

Tears were already falling from Yang Yuhuan's eyes, her face was wet with tears.

Yang Yuyao felt very distressed when she saw this, and couldn't help but whispered to Xue Bai: "You don't know, although we grew up in Shu County, the saint has already sentenced Yuhuan to death. If she goes this time and encounters a mutiny again, wouldn't it be dangerous? Moreover, there are many dangers along the way. If the saint really cares about her..."

"Because the journey is dangerous, I arranged for Du Wulang to escort us."

"Du Wulang?" Yang Yuyao was stunned and said, "Wouldn't a stupid person like that be more dangerous?"

Xue Bai said, pulling out a small map from his sleeve, and said, "Yes, so when the team arrives here, they will be intercepted by the rebels, and the 'Royal Concubine' will die here, her beauty will be gone."

Yang Yuhuan wiped the tears from her face and looked over, seeing the three words "Jincheng County" where Xue Bai's finger had landed.

(End of this chapter)