Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 510 Little Oolong

After riding across the Xianyang Bridge, Chang'an City finally came into sight.

Xue Bai has already given orders that after the city parade and the surrender ceremony, someone will take Li Heng and his son back to the Ten Kings' Residence and the Hundred Suns' Courtyard for custody. Although they still have the title of king, they are no different from prisoners.

"uncle?"

Suddenly a childish voice sounded behind him. Xue Bai did not realize that it was calling him until the other party called him several times in a row. He finally turned around and saw that it was a child about ten years old. He should be Li Chu's eldest son, named Li Shi, nicknamed Tiao Lang.

Xue Bai didn't want to talk to the kid. When Li Shi saw him turn around, he trotted over, looked up, and asked, "Can I ask my uncle a few questions?"

"what?"

"Uncle, did you encounter any resistance when you sent troops to fight against the Huihe Yehu?"

"Of course there is."

Upon hearing this, Li Shi showed an expression of astonishment, and then asked: "How did uncle overcome all the opposition in the face of resistance?"

"Just the word 'resolute'."

Li Shi sighed, lowered his head and said, "But it's so difficult to do."

He just called him uncle, which made him one of the few people in the Li Tang royal family who accepted Xue Bai. Xue Bai couldn't help but ask, "Who told you to call me like that?"

"No one. My uncle is the son of Prince Ying, and he is my grandfather's cousin. Isn't he my uncle?"

Li Shi answered as a matter of course, bowed, and said, "My uncle sent someone to send my mother back before. I remember your great kindness."

"Why do you come to ask me about the Huihe?"

"I hate Huihe people." Li Shi muttered, "That Huihe Yehu and my grandfather became sworn brothers and insisted that I call him 'uncle', but he wanted to destroy the two capitals of the Great Tang Dynasty. He even touched my head and asked me to dance for him. It's really hateful."

As he spoke, he clenched his fist and waved it in the air.

"I think what Third Uncle said is right. Heaven moves with vigor. A gentleman should constantly strive for self-improvement. How can a real man sell out the people for help? But Grandpa refused to listen and said I was an ignorant child."

Xue Bai thought to himself, "Kid, your father and grandfather have already done this. It's probably too late to talk about this now."

He had no time to discuss world affairs with the kid, so he rode his horse into Chang'an.

Inside the gate of Chang'an, with a loud shout of "Prince Yong is back", the people in the city suddenly became excited.

Previously, it was the rebels who attacked, and this time it was Li Heng who attacked. Xue Bai had defended Chang'an twice, and the people did not care who was the emperor, but only cared whether their survival and life could be protected, so they cheered sincerely.

Unfortunately, this is the era of aristocratic families, and these ordinary people have no power in the court and cannot help Xue Bai advance in his official career.

"That is the loyal prince Li Heng who bribed the Huihe soldiers with the people of Chang'an!"

Suddenly someone in the crowd pointed at Li Heng and shouted, and the scene changed immediately.

Because of the influence of newspapers, public opinion spread quickly. When Fang Guan first led the invasion, the major daily newspapers in the city made a big fuss about Li Heng's promise of giving gold, silk, and children to the Huihe people to boost the determination of the army and the people to fight back. Therefore, few people in Chang'an did not know about this.

All of a sudden, there was a lot of cursing.

Li Heng was also stunned. He had imagined countless times that he would enter Chang'an and rule the world. Unexpectedly, the scene of being welcomed by people with food and drink in his dream turned into a rat crossing the street and everyone wanted to kill him.

No, this matter must have been instigated by someone secretly, otherwise how could some unruly people dare to insult the prince in the street?
It was Li Cong and Xue Bai who were instigating this again...

"Snapped."

Just as he was thinking of this, there was a sudden sound from the ground beside him. He turned around and saw someone throwing a melon rind at him.

The melon rind was a bit rotten, probably because it was fished out from the swill bucket after being soaked in it. It hit the ground with a loud noise, and the swill was splashed, with a foul smell. Fortunately, Suzaku Street was built very wide, just in case an assassin shot an arrow when the emperor was on tour, the melon rind could not hit him.

On second thought, there was a shortage of grain in Chang'an now. Apart from the aristocratic families, how could the common people eat the melons and leave the skins? It was obvious that this must have been the intention of Li Cong and Xue Bai.

All of a sudden, all kinds of objects were thrown at Li Heng, mixed with countless curses.

"Rebel!"

"ungrateful!"

"coward……"

Li Heng neither watched nor listened, his mind firmly fixed on one idea, telling himself that this was a frame-up and slander, and he must not be defeated by Li Cong and Xue Bai.

It was a pity that Xue Bai did not order his soldiers to stop the people's usurpation of power, so the people became more and more agitated.

Public opinion got out of control and exceeded its proper level.

Li Chu rode his horse behind Li Heng and was also cursed and thrown at him by various objects, which landed on his horse's hooves. He pursed his lips, his eyes remained firm, but he felt very aggrieved in his heart.

In fact, he had already made up his mind not to let the Huihe people plunder the two capitals. It was just a matter of regretting it later. Even if he had to kneel down to his sworn brother, he would still defend the two capitals.

Unfortunately, Li Neng did not understand his painstaking efforts, and now these ignorant people do not understand it either.

Further back in the procession, Li Shi rode his horse among the family members of Prince Yu's mansion, and was not the target of the people's anger. But when he saw this scene, he felt more ashamed than his father and grandfather.

A child in his early teens has the thinnest skin, and his face soon turned red. He gripped the reins tightly, lowered his head slightly, and felt that all the humiliation and abuse were directed at him.

For a moment, he even felt that he was ashamed of the Li ancestors.

Finally, the team walked through the extremely long Suzaku Street. After entering the imperial city, the angry civilians were stopped.

Inside the Suzaku Gate of the imperial city, respectable officials came to greet him.

"We, the ministers, are here on the orders of the Saint to welcome Prince Zhong back to Chang'an!"

Li Heng looked around and saw many familiar faces, some of whom were his former officials in the Eastern Palace. He nodded with relief.

Among the officials, some also looked at Li Heng with the same gratification in their eyes. They all knew that Prince Zhong was obviously more orthodox than Prince Qing, who was supported by Xue Bai of unknown origin, and Prince Zhong was able to give up the throne for the sake of the country and maintain the unity of the Tang Dynasty. He was indeed broad-minded.

Another group of officials who supported Li Cong looked at Li Heng as if "Prince Zhong is quite sensible."

As for the promise of gold, silk, and children from the two capitals to the Huihe, people who were used to intrigue were accustomed to it.

Sometimes, beneath the sanctimonious appearance of those in power, their bottom line is often lower than that of ordinary people.

Li Heng was not suitable for too much contact with officials, so after showing up and expressing his attitude, the team turned to the Daming Palace to meet the emperor.

The majestic Danfeng Gate was also a place that Li Heng yearned for. He was supposed to quell the rebellion and take over the place, but today, he could only meet its owner here in humiliation.

"The guilty minister Li Heng pays respect to His Majesty!"

He held up the national treasure high with both hands, his heart broken and tears streaming down his face.

No one could understand his feelings when he said this. The glory that should have belonged to him was taken away by Li Cong. But Li Cong was not worthy of it at all. He was an ugly, incompetent waste who was held hostage by a child!
Li Cong narrowed his eyes and looked at the national treasure in Li Heng's hand. What he thought was that he had finally taken back everything that was taken away by Li Heng.

He was the eldest son. But I don't know whether it was fate or some villain who secretly harmed him, making him infertile and disfigured. He fought so hard and turned the tide when the country was in turmoil. Now he just got back a part of what he lost.

"Third brother!"

"Brother! Your Majesty!"

As various thoughts flashed through their minds, the two brothers were already hugging each other.

Li Cong helped Li Heng up, and said with tears streaming down his face: "I have always known that you were misled by a traitor. The officials do not believe it, but I do! I know you will come back and reunite with my brothers!"

Li Heng was so jealous that he almost died when he heard the words "I" again and again.

He burst into tears and said, "Your Majesty, I mistakenly thought that my brother was trapped in Chang'an and held hostage by the rebels. I deserve to die."

"Just reform yourself, it's over." Li Cong said, "You and I brothers should restore the Tang Dynasty."

Li Cong knew very well that in order to check and balance Xue Bai in the future, he would have to make use of the power of Li Heng and his son.

What is rare is that Xue Bai, knowing that the brothers might join forces, was willing to persuade Li Heng to surrender, which was quite generous. Of course, this was because of the large army of Shi Siming in Hebei, the shortage of food and grass in Chang'an, and the threat posed by the announcement of the emperor, which showed that the Li family still had to unite.

"Chu'er." Li Cong looked at Li Chu again, his expression even more enthusiastic, "I have heard everything. You advised your grandfather, very good, very good."

Li Heng turned his head and glanced at his son with a somewhat cold look.

Li Chu then realized that the relationship between father and son had completely broken down. Since it was impossible to save the relationship, he might as well turn to Li Cong more thoroughly. Li Tan had done this before, so why couldn't he do the same?
"Your Majesty, I am here to see you."

"Get up. It's been a long time since we last met. You look even more heroic now. The Tang Dynasty needs young and promising royal children like you the most. Good, good!"

As he was talking, Li Cong beckoned to his sons and asked them to come meet their elder brother. When Li Chu saw Li Cong put his hand on Li Chu's shoulder and patted him, he immediately understood what he meant.

For a moment, the hall was filled with joy.

But on the other hand, Li Cong could only show off his imperial majesty in front of his brothers, nephews and nephews. When it came to the specific affairs of the world, he was far from having power.

He was not even sure what Guo Ziyi's attitude was now.

~~
Although the Prince of Yu’s Palace is called a palace, it is actually just a small courtyard in the Baisun Courtyard. However, the most difficult thing about it to live in is not that it is small.

When Li Longji was in power, there was a housekeeper in Baisunyuan, who arranged everything from studying to three meals a day. Now that Li Chu has surrendered and returned, the supervision has become even stricter.

Dugu Qin was taken in by Li Chu on the run, and this was her first time living in Baisun Courtyard. As soon as she entered the door, she felt uncomfortable when being stared at by those strong servants.

Looking up at the square sky framed by high walls, she felt like a bird in a cage.

Li Chu was very excited. He was back to his familiar residence and no longer on a battlefield where his life was uncertain. He thought he could do more.

From that day on, he had a new catchphrase.

"to beat."

When Dugu Qin complained, Li Chu stroked her back and said softly: "A real man must endure what ordinary people cannot endure in order to accomplish something."

"But I really don't like it here."

"One day, I will let you live in Daming Palace. We can go boating in Longchi and watch opera in Liyuan, okay?"

The next day, Dugu Qin was watching the falling flowers in the courtyard when a palace maid came running over and said, "Madam, something happened. Prince Yu beat Tiao Lang up."

Dugu Qin was stunned. In her impression, Li Chu loved Li Shi very much and had never hit the child. Moreover, now that everyone was locked up in the Baisun Courtyard, what could have happened that would be worthy of Li Chu's action?

Since she was free anyway, she was curious, so she ran to plead for mercy, stopped Li Chu and cried, "If you want to hit me, hit me, don't hurt the child."

Li Chu was reluctant to hit his beautiful beloved, so he pointed at Li Shi and cursed, "Rebellious son!"

Just then, a palace maid came to report that a messenger from the palace had arrived. Li Chu threw down his whip and went to meet the guest himself.

Dugu Qin wiped her tears, straightened her clothes, and resumed her charming appearance. She looked at Li Shi and asked, "Tiao Lang, tell me how you made your grandfather so angry?" "Humph, you hypocritical fox, I don't need you to cry for me."

"Do you think I am happy to care about you?" Dugu Qin said, "I have never enjoyed any blessings since I married into the Prince of Yu's mansion, but I have suffered a lot of sins. I also have to raise children for your grandfather, so please be nice to me."

Li Shi ignored her and just thought of his biological mother, Shen, feeling very sad.

Dugu Qin asked someone to bring him medicine. While applying it to him, she said, "Tell me, how did you make your grandfather angry? I'm really curious."

"I told my grandfather that I admire Prince Yong," Li Shi answered crisply.

"puff."

Dugu Qin was drinking water and had never expected such an answer, so she quickly covered her mouth.

"How dare you say that about your grandfather's mortal enemy?"

"You are talking nonsense. My uncle and my grandfather are brothers. We are both members of the Li clan and we want to restore the Tang Dynasty. But you eunuchs and women love to gossip and mess up the brotherhood and my country."

"At such a young age, who taught you these things? But your mother?"

Li Shi was very angry and replied, "That's what I thought. I don't want to be like my grandfather, who has to worry about the position of heir all his life. I want to be like my uncle, the Prince of Jianning, and my uncle, the Prince of Yong, who are both virtuous and strong. I am clearly right, but my grandfather insisted on beating me."

His face was very serious. Duguqin covered her mouth with her hands and laughed, "How ridiculous! You keep saying stupid things. I am dying of laughter."

Li Shi looked up at her trembling appearance and felt annoyed that he had said so much to this ignorant woman since she couldn't understand him anyway.

“Playing the lute to a cow.”

He muttered to himself angrily, then walked away covering his torn butt.

Dugu Qin originally thought that Li Shi was just a child who spoke without restraint, but she did not expect that Li Yuetu, the Princess of Hezheng County, would come to see Li Shi that day. She was very envious of this and was curious about why Li Yuetu, who was also from the lineage of Prince Zhong, could run around everywhere. At night, she asked Li Chu about this matter.

"He Zheng has been in Chang'an all the time." Li Chu said, "I guess he supports Li Cong and Xue Bai."

"But I think Princess Hezheng is very capable."

Li Chu pondered, thinking of some past events. He tapped his fingers on his knees and said, "In the early years, my grandfather considered promising He Zheng to Xue Bai."

Dugu Qin was so bored that she was extremely concerned about this matter and asked hurriedly, "Aren't they siblings?"

"Do you believe it?" Li Chu sneered, "Now I understand that the reason Xue Bai refused this marriage was because he wanted to impersonate Li Qian."

In fact, he couldn't tell for sure whether he was pretending to be the emperor or not, but for him at the moment, he had to insist that Xue Bai was a fake grandson of the emperor.

"Do you know why I know Xue Bai is fake?"

Dugu Qin didn't know much about other things, but was very sensitive to these things. She understood immediately and said in surprise: "Princess He Zheng and Xue Bai? They..."

"Shhh."

Li Chu said: "You can get in touch with Princess Hezheng more often. The Prince of Yu's Mansion is under surveillance, so it is inconvenient to communicate with her. For some things, you have to rely on her."

"The slave family understands."

Dugu Qin was originally a very simple girl. She never thought of interfering in state affairs. She even felt bored and disgusted.

But now she was free anyway and Li Chu needed her help, so she had to get in touch with him little by little to feel what privilege was and how to get it.

In the following days, she often brought Li Shi and Li Yuetu to visit, becoming one of the freest members in Prince Yu's mansion. Although she still did not dare to secretly pass on information for Li Chu, the sense of danger still made her a little excited.

Finally, she was invited by Princess Hezheng to enter the palace to meet Empress Dou.

After the death of Li Longji's Queen Wang, there was no Queen in the Tang Dynasty, and even the Crown Princess was rare. The only exception was Li Cong's first wife, Dou. No one had expected Li Cong to ascend the throne, so the Princess of Qing became the Queen by mistake, and she was at risk of becoming the next Wu Zetian.

Of course, this risk is still very small at present, and Empress Dou did not say too much to Dugu Qin. She just gave her four boxes of lotus seeds that were newly tributed from Jiangnan.

"Is this what the saint meant by pitying his fourth son, the King of Chu?"

On the way back, Dugu Qin held the lotus seeds and guessed in her heart, and felt that she was becoming more and more proficient in these political intrigues and secret codes.

When she got off the carriage at Baisun Courtyard, she looked back and saw several palace servants gathered at the back and did not come up. She could not help but wonder, "What's going on?"

"My lady... Tiao Lang is missing."

"What? What does this mean?"

"That's right, that's right, Tiao Lang is missing!"

Dugu Qin was stunned and quickly hurried to the carriage behind to take a look, only to see that it was empty and Li Shi was really not there.

"How can this be?"

This incident became a strange case, alarming the palace, Jingzhao Yin, Zongzheng Temple, and the Sixteen Guards of the Southern Court. Countless people searched for Li Shi's whereabouts in the city, but there were no clues.

The guards and palace maids who were riding horses behind the carriage said they saw nothing unusual. A living person, or a child, disappeared in the streets of Chang'an.

Li Chu lost his eldest son. He appeared anxious but calm in front of outsiders, but privately said to Dugu Qin: "This must have been done by Li Cong or Xue Bai."

"I am only worried that you will suspect that I am the one who..."

"No." Li Chu said softly, "I know you won't do that. And you can't send Tiao Lang away silently. Those around us are either Li Cong's people or Xue Bai's people. Only they can do it."

"Then how can we save Tiao Lang?"

Li Chu pondered and said, "You went to see Dou, and what happened on your way back seems to be done by Li Cong. He also has a motive, and he just threatened me to help him to establish Li Qu. But in my opinion, it is more like Xue Bai's doing. He wants to alienate me and Li Cong..."

"My dear, what should I do?"

"It is inevitable that Li Chu will be appointed as the crown prince. Xue Bai has resorted to such despicable means to stop this." Li Chu said to himself, "I will not fall for his trick."

Dugu Qin was still crying, her face was wet with tears, which made people feel distressed. Li Chu came back to his senses, wiped her tears and said, "Don't cry anymore."

"I have something that I wanted to tell you in the next few days, but now that this has happened, I don't know what to do. Woo woo woo."

"What's the matter?"

"No, if I tell you, you will definitely suspect that it was me who did it."

Li Chu frowned, held Duguqin's hands, and asked in a low voice: "Are you pregnant?"

He was overjoyed and hugged the beauty in front of him, comforting her: "Silly girl, how could I doubt you? For the sake of your unborn child, I will fight for the throne no matter what..."

Li Chu thought of countless possibilities regarding the disappearance of his eldest son, but he forgot one thing.

It was as if he would never remember Shen Zhenzhu.

~~
Xue Bai had been busy at the Zhongshu Gate all day, and only when he returned home did he hear Du Jin talk about Li Shi's disappearance.

"Really?" He picked up his pen and composed a reply to Guo Ziyi, saying casually, "It seems that Li Chu must suspect that it was me who did it."

Du Jin said: "If you wanted to take action, you could have done it when Jingzhou was in chaos. Why would you bring people back to Chang'an?"

"So many people followed him but no one noticed him. There are only two possibilities. One is that the people guarding him took him away, and the other is that he left on his own. He changed into a set of eunuch's clothes and blended into the crowd when no one was paying attention." Xue Bai asked, "Did he do anything to attract the team's attention at that time?"

"Yes, a soldier's horse lost control."

"Gao Can?" Xue Bai pondered, "If I were to guess, it was Gao Can who took Li Shi away."

"Who is that?"

"The one who eloped with Shen."

Du Jin suddenly realized, and said, "Then I understand. Li Shi must have planned to look for his biological mother after being beaten a few days ago."

"Let him be."

Xue Bai was busy dealing with Shi Siming's army and the huge shortage of food and fodder needed to quell the rebellion, so he was too lazy to pay attention to such trivial matters.

Du Jin asked, "Do you know that there are many speculations in Chang'an about Li Shi's disappearance?"

"I guess it has something to do with the issue of establishing a crown prince?"

"Li Cong thought you were trying to stop him from establishing a crown prince."

"We can't stop him. Guo Ziyi has already sent a letter asking Li Cong to make his son the heir." Xue Bai said, "I have already promised him."

"Unfortunately, we didn't win this time."

"It doesn't matter. How many crown princes have been deposed in the Tang Dynasty? Reputation and achievements are the real things."

Xue Bai had just promised Feng Changqing and Guo Ziyi that he would not compete for the throne in the name of the emperor's grandson, which brought peace to Guanzhong. It was not appropriate for him to intervene in this matter at the moment. However, he thought that he could take advantage of Li Cong's establishment of the crown prince to bring Li Longji back and stabilize Li Cong's throne.

~~
Prince Yu's Mansion.

Dou Wenyang sat upright and whispered, "I'm afraid that Prince Yu has fallen into a trap to alienate him."

"What did the Chinese envoy say?"

"Someone took Tiao Lang away when he was out of the palace, probably intending to make Prince Yu suspicious of the saint."

"I would never dare to think of that."

Dou Wenyang then leaned over and whispered a few words to Li Chu, who nodded and promised, "Don't worry, I know what's going on."

"That's good."

Li Chu pondered and said, "I want to write a letter to Guo Ziyi, explaining the pros and cons and asking him to submit a petition to support Your Majesty's appointment of a crown prince. Can you please send it to Hedong through the envoy?"

"That's great!"

Dou Wenyang was overjoyed.

In his opinion, the situation in Chang'an was treacherous, and the disappearance of Li Shi was full of doubts, involving the country. Fortunately, he had a pair of wise eyes to see through the tricks and successfully prevented Xue Bai from alienating the royal family.

A few days later, Guo Ziyi, Feng Changqing and others formally submitted a petition requesting Li Cong to make his legitimate son Li Qiu the crown prince, and Li Cong readily approved it.

This was the first step for the emperor to take power. Li Cong had a think tank like Dou Wenyang, and he also witnessed the close relationship between Li Chu and Guo Ziyi, which greatly increased his confidence.

~~
Soon, news from all sides, as well as the private movements of some people in power, were found out and sent to Du Jin.

Du Jin looked at it and couldn't help but sneer, saying: "You really think you are so smart, it's ridiculous."

(End of this chapter)