Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 507 Flies don’t bite seamless eggs
In fact, if Pugu Huai'en only needed to admit his mistake and show respect when he first arrived like Xin Yunjing did, the matter might have been over.

But he has a very stubborn character, and he is so proud of his contributions that he must make these things clear, not knowing that there are many things in the world that cannot be made clear.

In Xin Yunjing's opinion, Pugu Huai'en was too domineering. If he allowed such a loyal and treacherous person to lead his Huihe son-in-law into Guanzhong, it would be better to negotiate with Li Cong a condition that would be good for both parties and beneficial to the country.

"Your Majesty, Pugu Huai'en roared in front of the emperor. I ask that he be punished for disrespect." Xin Yunjing bowed again and said, "Pugu Huai'en is also to blame for the defeat of Yehu. To be on the safe side, I ask that he be temporarily relieved of his military post until the truth is found out."

Because he was worried that Li Heng would not agree, Xin Yunjing also thoughtfully selected the candidate to replace Pugu Huai'en.

"Ma Lin, the commander of the Jingji Army, is loyal and brave, and has made great contributions in saving the emperor. He can replace Pugu Huai'en."

If Li Heng had been decisive, he would have dismissed Pugu Huai'en on the spot. Pugu Huai'en was so loyal that he would never have resisted. However, Li Heng did not want to do such a thing, so he quickly reprimanded Xin Yunjing and ordered that no further discussion should be held, and everything should be treated as if nothing had happened.

In front of everyone, he tore Xue Bai's letter into pieces and said, "Go back, don't fall into Xue Ni's plan to alienate us."

"Your Majesty, please..."

Pugu Huai'en was still unwilling to give in and wanted to prove his innocence, so Li Chu quickly pulled him out, and the internal conflict was finally suppressed.

At night, Jingzhou City did not quiet down, and people were still quietly moving around in the city.

A figure sneaked into the inn and knocked on Wei Shaoyou's residence. After a while, the door was opened.

"Wei Gong."

"Come in and talk."

Wei Shaoyou ushered in the visitor, closed the door, and smiled, saying, "You're here, which shows that you're grateful and repaying the kindness you've received. That's great."

The other party was originally a minor official, who was promoted by Wei Shaoyou when he was the Transport Commissioner of Shuofang. As a result, he was able to make contributions to supporting the enthronement of the emperor and was given an official position by Li Heng. Now he is working in Li Heng's Marshal's Office.

"I heard that the Duke of Wei saved the life of the Prince of Yong in his early years. He was grateful and recommended the Duke of Wei to the Emperor of Chang'an. I should learn from the good deeds of others."

"You are a smart person. Tell me, what's the news?" Wei Shaoyou said happily.

"Xin Yunjing had long suspected that Pugu Huai'en had rebellious intentions. Today, he got the news and it turned out to be true. I heard him say to Luo Fengxian, 'It's hard to guarantee that the defeat of Yehu was not caused by Pugu Huai'en.'"

Wei Shaoyou raised his eyebrows, showing his delight, and whispered: "Prince Zhong and Prince Guangping value eunuchs and especially believe what people around them say. Take this money and ask Luo Fengxian for an official position, and then tell him that it was Pugu Huai'en who deliberately let Pugu Yin be captured and surrender to Chang'an. The reason why he killed this son was because he was worried that the matter would be leaked."

"Don't worry, Lord Wei. Luo Fengxian loves money like his life depends on money. This matter will definitely be settled."

"Spread the rumor that Prince Zhong intends to remove Pugu Huai'en's military power. Let someone ask Pugu Huai'en's generals in the name of Prince Zhong about this matter."

"The villain understands."

Wei Shaoyou understood Li Heng's way of employing people, and knew that this "sage" had not established his authority, was too lenient and suspicious in employing people, and did not govern officials seriously. So he deliberately prescribed the right remedy and came up with this idea, believing that Li Heng would not be able to guard against it even if he wanted to.

~~
As Wei Shaoyou expected, Luo Fengxian slandered Pugu Huai'en in front of Li Heng.

He did this not only for money, but also because he believed that there could be no military general in the world more loyal than eunuchs. He castrated himself and entered the palace to serve. But Pugu Huai'en was so good that he even killed his own son.

Besides, Pugu Huai'en's two daughters were married to Yidijian. Soon after, Yehu was defeated, and those Uighur cavalry fled back to the grassland, and they were likely to be subdued by Yidijian.

In addition to Luo Fengxian, Li Fuguo and Yu Chaoen also held the same view on this matter.

"What if he gives the saint to Xue Ni?"

Three people make a tiger. When Li Heng heard this, he was afraid that he would be buried alive by Xue Bai.

In fact, he did not trust Puguo Huai'en, but he was afraid of causing unrest, so he did not dare to remove Puguo Huai'en's power easily, and he immediately became conflicted.

Li Fuguo saw this and changed his mind. He stepped out and said, "Sir, I have a solution."

"Say it."

"Why doesn't the saint recall Guo Ziyi?"

Li Heng said: "I still rely on Guo Ziyi to besiege Chang'an, how can I call him back?"

"That's what I think." Li Fuguo said, "Li Mi said at the time that Wang Jin of Taiyuan, Li Guangbi of Xiangzhou, Zhang Xun of Yongqiu and others all supported the traitor Xue, so they wanted to cut off his contact. But now that Shi Siming has gone south, Hedong and Hebei are too busy to deal with Shi Siming, so why do they need Guo Ziyi? Moreover, Guo Ziyi has been sending troops for so long and has done nothing. I guess he has a personal relationship with Li Guangbi."

In fact, everyone knows that the bigger reason is not Guo Ziyi, but the fact that Fengxiang, the Western Capital, was lost too quickly, which strengthened the determination of many generals from all over the country to support Chang'an. But it is definitely not the case.

Hearing this, Li Heng nodded and looked at Li Fuguo with new eyes. He didn't know when this eunuch beside him had already had unique insights.

Li Fuguo raised his eyelids and quickly observed Li Heng's expression. He was now very good at guessing Li Heng's thoughts and saying something that seemed to make sense based on them.

But in fact, the reason why he wanted to recall Guo Ziyi was very simple. He was afraid that Xue Bai or Pugu Huai'en would take his life, and he felt that it would be more reassuring to have Guo Ziyi to stabilize the situation.

Li Fuguo continued, "If the Saint keeps Guo Ziyi to attack Chang'an, even if he succeeds, does that mean that Guo Ziyi's prestige will surpass that of the Saint?"

Li Heng frowned, and immediately thought of recalling Guo Ziyi, but he was still hesitant.

"Nothing is more important than the safety of the Saint." Li Fuguo continued, "The Saint has few soldiers now, and he has to defend Jingzhou. Recalling Guo Ziyi can keep the Saint safe. As for suppressing the Xue Rebellion, the Supreme Emperor has already announced it to the world, and Chang'an can be taken sooner or later. Why rush? If Pugu Huai'en has the intention to rebel, who else can suppress him except Guo Ziyi?"

Li Heng was finally persuaded, and immediately issued an edict, summoning Guo Ziyi to Jingzhou to serve the king.

At this time, it was less than a month since Fang Guan was defeated at Xianyang Bridge and Guo Ziyi sent troops to Hedong. However, Li Heng changed his strategy, causing Guo Ziyi to run back and forth. It seemed ridiculous, but there was a reason for it.

It was Li Mi's idea to let Guo Ziyi send troops to Hedong. Li Heng felt that this was a long way to go, but he agreed only out of respect for Li Mi's so-called "big picture" and "long-term". Now that Li Mi has betrayed him, he should not continue to stick to his strategy.

This incident marked the transition of Li Heng from following Li Mi's advice to following the eunuchs' opinions more.

~~
Guo Ziyi had not yet returned, and within just a few days, rumors suddenly spread inside and outside Jingzhou City.

Many people in the army were privately discussing the fact that the saint was going to strip General Pugu of his military power, and the news eventually reached Pugu Huai'en's ears.

In addition, some illegal things done by Puguo Huai'en's subordinates were also brought up. The Shuofang Army was a mixture of Hu and Han people, and was difficult to control. Puguo Huai'en did like to indulge his soldiers.

For example, his son Pugu Yan once saw a general's wife was beautiful, so he took her away without authorization. Because of Pugu's family's great achievements, no one dared to question him. Xin Yunjing had always been annoyed by this, and now he finally took action to take the woman back and return her to the general.

Pugu Yan had not returned from his diplomatic mission to the Uighurs, and his soldiers tried to stop Xin Yunjing, who shot and killed two of them.

The matter has been brought to Li Heng's attention, but there has been no result yet.

Fan Zhicheng, the military commander of Shuofang, entered the tent and said with a worried look on his face, "General, I heard something."

"What's the matter?!"

Pugu Huai'en was in a bad mood and was drinking heavily. There were countless jars of wine piled in front of him and his face was red from drinking.

Fan Zhicheng said, "I heard that Luo Fengxian had made advances with the Saint and warned the Saint to beware of the general becoming the next An Lushan. I have sent people to recall General Guo Jie in order to suppress you, the general."

"How am I like An Lushan?"

"Yes, General, apart from being a Hu, having made great military achievements, holding great power, and being deeply trusted by Your Majesty, he is nothing like An Lushan."

Pugu Huai'en rubbed his eyes, sobered up a little, and asked, "Are you speaking sarcastically?"

Fan Zhicheng said: "General, why don't you think about this? The saint has been defeated in many battles. Now, who else can he rely on except you?"

"Of course I know that I am the pillar of the saints, so he should not doubt me."

"That's ridiculous." Fan Zhicheng said, "The more the saint can only rely on the general, the more he fears that the general will betray him. From what I have seen, there are rumors in the army that the saint wants to remove the general's military power. This is not groundless."

Pugu Huai'en's face froze, grief appeared in his eyes, he threw the jar of wine in his hand, stood up and walked out.

Fan Zhicheng quickly stopped him and asked, "Where are you going, General?"

"I will go to see the Saint and ask to be dismissed." Pugu Huai'en spat on the ground and said, "I am full of passion, but I am suspected. There is no point in fighting this war anymore."

After he finished speaking, he suddenly realized that if the war was not fought, it would only allow Prince Qing to be the emperor safely, and perhaps the world would be more peaceful.

"No!" Fan Zhicheng said hurriedly, "Once the general loses his military power, how can Xin Yunjing, Luo Fengxian and others let him go? Don't you consider yourself or your entire family?"

Pugu Huai'en pushed him away and shouted, "I am loyal to my country and have no other ambitions. Why should I make more calculations for my own selfish interests?!"

Fan Zhicheng knelt on the ground and cried, "I have no intention of stopping you from serving the country, but I cannot bear to see your loyalty being trampled upon. The more loyal and brave you are, the more they despise you. This is what hurts me the most."

These words touched Puguo Huai'en's sore spot, and his eyes became sore and tears flowed down his face.

Fan Zhicheng added: "General, don't just sit there and wait for death. In my opinion, there are only two ways out. The best strategy is for you to give an order and order the Shuofang soldiers to capture Prince Zhong and Prince Guangping, father and son, and bring them to the capital to present to the emperor. Then you will not lose the great merit of stabilizing the country..."

Before he finished speaking, Pugu Huai'en turned around, raised his foot and kicked Fan Zhicheng, causing him to roll twice on the ground.

"Coward! I will never do such a thing as selling out my master for glory. If you dare to say another word, I will kill you right now!"

Fan Zhicheng climbed up again and said, "If the general does not want to do this, then we have no choice but to return to Shuofang to try to save our lives."

Pu Gu Huai'en did not answer. After thinking for a long time, he could not bear to abandon Li Heng and Li Chu like this. Finally, he decided to write a letter to explain everything clearly.

He returned to the big tent and sat down, calling Fan Zhicheng over and said, "I'll tell you to write it."

Fan Zhicheng sighed, and seeing that he could not persuade Pugu Huai'en, he had to sit down and pick up the pen.

"I am a barbarian from the Tiele tribe. My family has been loyal to the Tang Dynasty since Emperor Taizong's reign. I received favors from the Eastern Palace when I was young."

Fan Zhicheng then wrote down "I am a barbarian from my family, and was driven by the emperor when I was young", and shook his head, thinking, what's the point of saying this now? Once the saint becomes suspicious, it will only get deeper and deeper.

But Pugu Huai'en kept talking about his achievements over the years, and as he spoke he became increasingly angry and couldn't control himself.

"Your Majesty did not take a clear look and allowed the slanderers to do what they did. This is what makes me cry the most. I reflect carefully and think that I have six major sins and cannot escape death."

"An Lushan rebelled, and the world was plagued by wars. I ignored my mother's old age and ran to Lingwu to follow Your Majesty and recruit soldiers to fight the rebels. This is one of my great crimes of disloyalty!"

After hearing this, Fan Zhicheng was also filled with indignation and wrote quickly.

"To execute Zi Puguyin in order to enforce strict military discipline and abandon the love that comes naturally to me is a disloyalty to the country, which is my second crime!"

"My two daughters were married far away for the sake of peace with the country, but they were allied with the country and destroyed. This is my disloyalty to the country, and this is my third crime!"

"My minister and my son Pu Guyan were on the battlefield, dedicated to the peace of our country. This is disloyalty to our country, and this is our fourth crime!" "The traitor Xue used King Qing to control the world, and I refused his high position. This is disloyalty to our country, and this is our fifth crime!"

"I have pacified the Central Plains with the goal of restoring the country. I want Your Majesty to be both diligent and filial. This is my sixth crime of being disloyal to the country!"

After writing this memorial, both of them felt refreshed.

Pugu Huai'en felt much less depressed and could not wait to have someone present it to Li Heng.

In his opinion, such sincere words, every word of which was heart-wrenching, would surely make the saint understand his loyalty.

If Li Heng could understand him, he would continue to be loyal to him. If not, he would lead his troops back to Shuofang.

But he never thought that this was not so much a letter to prove his innocence as a declaration of war to challenge Li Heng's patience.

~~
A letter was opened, Xue Bai's eyes swept between the lines and said, "Thanks to Li Changyuan's clever plan."

He has been fond of using this sentence recently. Whenever there is progress in persuading Li Heng to surrender, he has to praise Li Mi, for fear that others do not know that Li Mi is assisting him.

The letter was sent by Wei Shaoyou, detailing the various situations in Jingzhou and reminding Xue Bai to be careful of Guo Ziyi's return.

If Guo Ziyi really returned, it would be a very dangerous thing for Xue Bai. Maybe Xue Bai was attacking Jingzhou City when a group of brave cavalry rushed over from the side and shot him down with an arrow.

But if Xue Bai was scared away by Guo Ziyi now, he might fall into Li Fuguo's trap.

Xue Bai was certainly not scared off by the idea of ​​an ignorant eunuch. He immediately called Lao Liang over and whispered orders to him.

"You go and select a group of elite soldiers. It doesn't have to be too many, just over 300 will do. Take the armor and flags of the Shuofang Army from the captured items, pretend to be Pu Gu Huai En's men, and go to the outside of Jingzhou City to stir up trouble."

Lao Liang understood immediately after hearing this and said, "Don't worry, my dear. I understand."

"Go."

Xue Bai looked at Lao Liang's back and inadvertently recalled what happened in Chang'an many years ago. The suffocating vat was Li Heng's betrayal of him.

If there was a chance one day to bury Li Heng alive, he would never show mercy. But for now, he should turn his attention back to Hebei.

Compared with his ambitions, even compared with the threat posed by Shi Siming, Li Heng is temporarily less important.

~~
Li Heng was awakened from another suffocation nightmare.

He dreamed that he was buried alive. When he woke up, he saw Zhang Ting's arm on his neck. He struggled out, stood up and walked out.

It was already four o'clock in the morning, and the lights were still on in the main hall of the so-called temporary palace. Li Fuguo was sorting documents for him.

Seeing Li Heng coming, Li Fuguo hurriedly tried to put away a memorial, but was seen, so he had no choice but to stop.

"Show me."

Li Heng snatched the memorial and saw that it was Du Hongjian's secret memorial. The words on the memorial were very tactful, but the content was very realistic.

It is said that Li Heng still has bargaining chips in his hand now that he has abdicated and returned to Chang'an. Li Cong cannot touch him. He can even resolve the conflict between the brothers and join forces to get rid of Xue Bai. Li Cong has no son, so the throne can be passed to Prince Guangping to preserve the country.

He also said that Xue Bai's foundation was still weak, and he was taking advantage of the quarrel between the brothers to expand his power. So, the most important thing was to put an end to the quarrel between the brothers. If they continued to resist, it would consume their strength, which would be disadvantageous to the Tang Dynasty and Li Heng.

In short, the strategy of fighting against Li Cong and Xue Bai should be changed to uniting with Li Cong to fight against Xue Bai.

Du Hongjian's words were sensible, but the fact was that once Li Heng returned to Chang'an, he would be a captive at anyone's mercy. It would be extremely difficult to achieve these goals. And Du Hongjian could turn to Li Cong at any time.

"Saint." Li Fuguo said: "Du Hongjian rebelled..."

"do not talk."

Li Heng waved his hands, knowing that it was precisely because Li Fuguo also felt that Du Hongjian's words made sense that he wanted to hide the memorial.

He was distraught and didn't understand why his life was such a failure.

"Your Majesty, there is also this."

Li Fuguo handed over another memorial from Pugu Huai'en and whispered, "In my opinion, Pugu Huai'en was extremely disrespectful..."

When Li Heng saw this, his face froze immediately. He paced anxiously and said, "Call Li Chu, Fang Guan, Xin Yunjing, Ma Lin and others."

He was not a decisive person. When everyone arrived, they must have had different opinions. After a long discussion, it would be difficult to make a decision.

As expected, even after seeing such a memorial, Li Chu still believed that Pugu Huai'en had not rebelled, but he did not dare to guarantee it, for fear that Li Heng would suspect that he was in collusion with Pugu Huai'en; Xin Yunjing, on the other hand, firmly believed that Pugu Huai'en had rebelled.

At this moment, suddenly, there was a loud sound of drums outside the city.

"what happened?!"

Li Heng hurriedly sent someone to inquire, and soon the military supervisor Yu Chaoen came running over.

As soon as he entered, Yu Chaoen fell to the ground and cried, "Oh no! Pugu Huai'en has rebelled!"

Everyone thought he came from the barracks outside the city and entered the city in a hanging basket. In fact, he was able to get here so quickly because he lived in the city.

The eunuch was afraid of death and did not want to be discovered by Li Heng. He had to tell Li Heng what was happening in the barracks, so he said with great confidence based on what he had learned: "The generals under Pugu Huai'en's command have started a commotion, urging Pugu Huai'en to hold the sage hostage and offer him to the traitor Xue!"

"Really...really?"

"I heard it with my own ears. They were shouting, 'Lord Zhong doesn't trust the general. We must capture him tonight and restore order!'"

At this point, Yu Chaoen realized that he had said something wrong, and added: "I saw it with my own eyes!"

Luo Fengxian was shocked when he heard this. He jumped up and down, and screamed, "I knew that Pugu Huaigu was going to rebel!"

At this point, even Li Chu could no longer speak for Pugu Huai'en, and could only bow to Li Heng and say, "Pugu Huai'en did not want to rebel, but was misled by his subordinates."

Li Heng's defenses were finally broken, and he burst into tears. He spread his hands and asked the heavens, "God has condemned the Tang Dynasty. Can't the Tang Dynasty have a general who will not rebel?!"

Upon hearing this, Xin Yunjing, Ma Lin and others all stepped forward, clasped their fists and said, "Your Majesty! We are willing to put down Pugu Huai'en's rebellion!"

Although their words were generous, in fact they all knew that after this change, their vitality was severely damaged and they were no longer able to compete with Xue Ni.

~~
"General!"

Pu Gu Huai En drank a lot of wine tonight and was woken up from his drunken state. He heard hundreds of people making noises outside the camp.

Before he sobered up, more people in the camp were mobilized and could not be suppressed.

Seeing this, Fan Zhicheng knew that things were not going well, and advised Pugu Huai'en to make preparations early, either to surrender to Xue Bai or to lead his people back to Shuofang.

At first, Pugu Huai'en didn't believe it.

But not long after, Xin Yunjing and Ma Lin had already assembled their troops overnight and were ready to attack him, and he could not help but believe it.

"How could this be? How could this be?" Pugu Huai'en looked up to the sky in anger, beat his chest and stamped his feet, and said, "My tribe has been loyal to the Khan for generations, how could we be considered traitors?!"

"General, make a quick decision!"

Pugu Huai'en could not make up his mind. He had only one thought in his mind: this important matter had to be decided by Guo Ziyi. In addition, his eldest son Pugu Yan was on a diplomatic mission to Huihe to ask for troops to suppress the Xue Rebellion.

This made him feel that returning to Shuofang temporarily to wait and see was a more feasible option.

At this point, he was still unwilling to completely fall out with Li Heng and his son, so he shouted, "Let's go back to Shuofang!"

……

It was a chaotic night, with people and horses neighing outside Jingzhou City. When dawn came, the ground was in a mess.

When the morning sun shone, the Shuofang Army's camp was still there, with corpses on the ground. The soldiers who had not left the camp squatted on the ground, holding their heads, numb and at a loss.

Li Chu climbed up to the top of the city wall, looked around, and his eyes had lost their former vitality.

He really didn't understand why everything turned out like this. He claimed to be wise, but he didn't know what he had done wrong that led to this situation.

"Brother, don't you understand yet?"

A familiar voice suddenly rang in his ears. Li Chu was in a trance for a moment. He realized that he had not slept for several nights and was hallucinating.

The figure of Li Dan appeared in his mind, so he shook his head to get rid of it.

"I have said from the beginning that if we rely on the Huihe to recapture the two capitals, we will be successful. The consequences of weakness will never be made up for in my lifetime..."

"Go away!"

Li Chu was furious and shouted and cursed.

Li Neng's voice was still ringing.

"Brother, you are not strong-willed. You dare not seek long-term goals, fearing that the night will be long and dreams will be many. You ask for reinforcements, even if it means sacrificing the people of the two capitals, because you know in your heart that you are weak, weak to the core!"

"You're talking nonsense! You're already dead!"

"Because I am weak to the core, you killed me, right? Similarly, Pugu Huai'en can never be trusted. His betrayal is inevitable. Otherwise, he will be like me, a fly that won't bite an egg without cracks."

"Shut up!"

Li Chu was frantic, and turned his head again, but was stunned again. The illusion in his mind had dissipated, but at the junction of heaven and earth, a troop of soldiers had appeared.

Xue's nemesis was approaching the city.

But Pugu Huai'en and his troops were no longer there.

Li Chu stared at this scene in a daze, and finally fell down dejectedly. A question popped up in his mind... Are they really going to surrender?

(End of this chapter)