Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 512: Retaining the Throne
The next day, in Xiangzhou City, An Qingxu suddenly summoned all the generals and soldiers.

Everyone thought he was going to surrender to Shi Siming and give up the throne. But when An Qingxu saw that everyone was there, he burst into tears and said, "I have relied on the late emperor's influence to share the joys and sorrows with you. Now that we are defeated, I only ask Shi Siming for support. I didn't expect that he would forget the late emperor's kindness and want to seize the foundation of Dayan. If he succeeds, he will kill me and you to feel at ease!"

After this statement was made, Zhang Tongru, Ping Lie and others did not think that they would die, but An Qingxu's more than 3,000 personal soldiers believed it very much and were deeply frightened.

An Qingxu was pleasantly surprised to see that his words were effective. He wanted to shout a few more slogans to boost morale, but Geshu Han behind him coughed twice, urging him to continue.

He was a little scared and looked back reluctantly, but was met with Geshu Han's stern gaze. He had no choice but to take a few steps forward and kneel down in front of everyone.

"saint?!"

The soldiers of Dayan were afraid to accept such a great gift, and they all knelt down, saying, "A saint should not do this."

An Qingxu burst into tears and cried, "I cannot kill myself to protect the legacy of the previous emperor. I only hope that you can cut off my head and gain wealth and honor, but you don't have to die with me... Go ahead!"

He gritted his teeth and uttered the last three words in a trembling voice. Geshu Han was very sure that the soldiers would not kill him, but he did not think so. He felt that there were too many people in the city who wanted to surrender to Shi Siming, and any one of them could kill him.

By the time these words were spoken, An Qingxu could even feel that some officials in the crowd were ready to make a move.

Fortunately, he had made arrangements beforehand and had planted some men among his loyal soldiers. He shouted, "Saint, don't be discouraged. We have so many soldiers and horses that we can still fight. If things don't work out, we will live and die with you!"

This well-planned bold statement still inspired some soldiers, and they responded one after another.

An Qingxu was relieved and wiped his tears quickly, saying: "You did not abandon me because of the loss of the army, how can I let you down? I am willing to cut my hair and swear an oath with you generals to be brothers!"

"How can we be so worthy of such a reward..."

An Qingxu was unyielding and insisted on becoming sworn brothers with all the generals. After this, the morale of the generals was different from before.

An Qingxu was very satisfied with this situation and felt that it was enough, but Geshu Han still looked at him with a strict look. It was strange that An Qingxu did not obey anyone, but since Geshu Han agreed to assist him, he could not help but want to obey Geshu Han.

So he had no choice but to issue an order to take out all his own property and the property of the rich families in the city to reward the generals. For a moment, everyone cheered.

Ashina Chengqing, An Shouzhong and others had already decided to join Shi Siming. Although An Qingxu's pretense did not impress them, it also made them look at him with new eyes. At this moment, An Qingxu looked at them, called them uncles, and asked them to help reorganize the army and build city defenses.

Although they wanted to refuse, they had no choice but to agree when they saw the high morale of the soldiers around them.

Seeing Xiangzhou City making such preparations for war, Geshu Han couldn't help but think of the time when he fought against the enemy in Longyou...

~~
Weizhou.

Shi Siming originally thought that An Qingxu was cowardly and that he would have no choice but to give up the throne of Great Yan at this desperate point.

Unexpectedly, after sending the envoy, An Qingxu not only did not go out of the city to welcome him, but instead closed the city to resist.

Zhou Zhi was very suspicious of this and asked Yan Zhuang, "Mr. Yan is so proud of his ability, why couldn't he convince An Qingxu to fulfill his promise, but instead forced him to rebel? Could it be that he is plotting for the Tang court?"

"What's the point of planning for the Tang court?" Yan Zhuang answered calmly, "Anqing Xu is weak and trapped in a tiny city with no more than 10,000 soldiers. It would be easy for Your Majesty to destroy him. I think you can capture Xiangzhou and become emperor in a few days. On the other hand, the Tang court is full of brothers fighting each other, fathers and sons breaking up, and the emperor and his ministers are suspicious of each other. Can it be saved?"

Zhou Zhi could not refute it and asked, "Then why did An Qingxu resist so stubbornly?"

Yan Zhuang then apologized to Shi Siming, saying: "I have a grudge against An Qingxu. When we met, I angered him and made a big mistake."

"Don't blame Mr. Yan."

Shi Siming waved his hand calmly. It would be easy for him to defeat An Qingxu, so he didn't care much about this matter. Instead, now was the time to use Yan Zhuang.

He then put on a stern face and said, "An Qingxu was born as a son, but he killed his father and seized the throne. His crime is unforgivable. I want to punish him to offer sacrifice to the spirit of the late emperor. Mr. Yan, are you willing to write a letter on my behalf to expose An Qingxu's crime?"

"I am willing to contribute my little bit!"

Soon, Shi Siming assembled his troops and went out to fight, but this time he did not go south to cross the Yellow River, but to capture Xiangzhou.

When the army arrived outside Xiangzhou City, Shi Siming first sent his brave general Du Yuanliang to the foot of the city to read out Yan Zhuang's manifesto, announcing that it was An Qingxu who designed the bombing to kill the captured An Lushan, and angrily accused him of patricide and regicide, which was intolerable to heaven and earth.

Unexpectedly, a general rode out from Xiangzhou City. He was Huoba Guiren, who led Geshu Han to surrender to the Yan army in the Battle of Tongguan.

Huoba Guiren was definitely disloyal to the Tang court, and even less loyal to An Qingxu. He was only loyal to Geshu Han. Therefore, when An Qingxu withdrew from Luoyang and fled back to Hebei in a panic, he must have not contributed and only protected Geshu Han.

Now that Geshu Han had decided to work for An Qingxu, Huoba Guiren was willing to be the vanguard and went out of the city with a sword in hand to challenge Du Yuanliang.

The two men then engaged in a duel in front of Xiangzhou City, driving their horses back and forth to fight.

At this time, Shi Siming's army pressed on the city, and it was densely packed. An Qingxu was terrified and lost all confidence when he saw it from the top of the city wall. The people in Xiangzhou were panic-stricken, and many people had decided to surrender to Shi Siming.

however.

"puff."

On the battlefield outside the city, when the horses of the two fighting generals passed each other, Huoba Guiren suddenly slashed with his sword and cut off Du Yuanliang's head.

For a moment, people inside and outside the city were shocked.

The generals in Shi Siming's army hurriedly sent cavalry to kill Huoba Guiren. Arrows rained down on him, but Huoba Guiren showed no fear and calmly retreated back to Xiangzhou City.

That night, Geshu Han saw that the morale of the rebels had dropped, and took advantage of their unstable foothold to send An Qingxu's personal soldiers out of the city to launch a surprise attack. He deliberately made them shout loudly, causing chaos in Shi Siming's army and making them afraid to fight. An Qingxu's personal soldiers took the opportunity to rob cattle, sheep, food and grass and return to the city.

Shi Siming then had to admit that he had underestimated the enemy. If he wanted to capture An Qingxu again, he would have to spend more time.

~~
"Your Majesty, don't you think Yan Zhuang is suspicious?"

Zhou Zhi finally couldn't help but remind Shi Siming again, analyzing: "Initially, An Qingxu had expressed his willingness to give up the throne. Yan Zhuang's arrival made him join forces with Geshu Han to resist. If it wasn't arranged by the Tang court, it would be too much of a coincidence."

"How can I not see it?" Shi Siming said, "Yan Zhuang is indeed a suspect, but if we kill him now, wouldn't that deny his testimony?"

Zhou Zhi was unable to answer and fell into deep thought.

Shi Siming was full of confidence and said, "I have a strong army and can capture Xiangzhou City sooner or later. If I kill Yan Zhuang for no reason, the generals in the city will think that I am intolerant and will provoke them to rebel even more."

"But what if Yan Zhuang is really an insider sent by the Tang court?" Zhou Zhi said, "I am afraid that I will endanger the king's life."

This is not without reason. Shi Siming said, "Then you should show us the evidence. What's the point of making assumptions out of thin air?"

"Yes."

Zhou Zhi thought about it and finally came up with a plan. He said, "Some time ago, Cai Xide sent Cheng Ang, a Tang general. The king gave Cheng Ang an official position, but he pretended to obey. Why not use Cheng Ang to test Yan Zhuang?"

Shi Siming thought it made sense, so he summoned Yan Zhuang to discuss the matter and ordered him to return to Weizhou for official business.

Yan Zhuang received the military order and rushed back to Weizhou that day. After finishing his business, he stayed in the post house to rest.

Since Shi Siming's army had already left, Weizhou City had become deserted, and the defenses had been relaxed. If Yan Zhuang wanted to ally with Wu Chengen to deal with Shi Siming, now was the best time.

But he did not do so. Instead, he was alone in the inn thinking about something and planned to go to bed early.

That night, when he was about to fall asleep, he heard a knock on the door. With a suspicious look in his eyes, he first opened the window and looked down.

He lived in a two-story building, with a study downstairs and a bedroom upstairs. He was the only one in the courtyard tonight. At this moment, a fat woman knocked on the door downstairs.

Yan Zhuang thought about it, and went downstairs with the candlestick to open the door. As soon as the door opened, the woman slipped in and closed the door with her backhand.

When the candlestick shone, half of her rough and ugly face could be seen, and her pores were so large that they were hard to ignore in the dim light. Perhaps she was self-aware and was afraid of being an eyesore to others, so she covered the lower half of her face with a mask.

She had a limp and looked around after entering the house, then she went upstairs and looked around again.

"No one else." Yan Zhuang followed and asked, "Who are you?"

"I."

The strong woman spoke with a hoarse voice, lifted the mask on her face, revealing her unshaven face, and said, "Cheng Ang! The Chief Clerk of Shangdang County, and the Right Jinwu General."

Back in the Western Regions, Cheng Ang mocked Gao Xianzhi for being a woman because of his handsome face. At that time, he never thought that one day he would wear women's clothes himself.

Yan Zhuang raised his eyebrows and looked at Cheng Ang, but did not speak.

Seeing Yan Zhuang didn't answer, Cheng Ang couldn't help but get anxious and asked, "Aren't you an envoy sent by the court?"

"I'm."

"Great! I disguised myself like this just to see you." Cheng Ang said, "If you return to Chang'an, you must tell the court that I am not surrendering, but I want to be an insider to help the court suppress the rebellion."

Yan Zhuang frowned and was about to speak, but a look of suspicion appeared in his eyes, so he said lightly: "Don't you think about Gao Xianzhi's fate?"

"Gao Xianzhi..."

"However, I do not seek to live in disgrace. I only wish to bow my head to the palace, speak my heart out to Your Majesty, tell you the plan for the country, break the tigers and wolves' plot, and repay Your Majesty's grace of dying a thousand times to repay Your Majesty's lifelong favor."

Just as Cheng Ang was about to say something about Gao Xianzhi, Yan Zhuang slowly read out Gao Xianzhi's memorial at the time and said, "Gao Xianzhi was executed before he surrendered. Now that General Cheng has surrendered, do you still think the court can understand you?"

"Can……"

Cheng Ang hesitated to speak, and looked at Yan Zhuang again. His original trust turned into some suspicion.

He thought to himself, "It seems that Yan Zhuang doesn't know that Prince Yong saved Gao Xianzhi. Does Prince Yong trust him? Is he rebelling against the court again?"

Yan Zhuang asked, "How did you know that the imperial court sent an envoy?"

"That's what the guard who's watching over me said."

Yan Zhuang sneered and said, "Now that Your Majesty has a strong army and horses, he will soon ascend the throne as the Emperor of Great Yan and conquer the world. I advise you to think it over and don't make mistakes."

"You?" "Yes." Yan Zhuang straightened his sleeves and said proudly, "I just took the opportunity of the diplomatic mission to surrender to the king."

Cheng Ang's expression suddenly changed, his eyes became ferocious, and murderous intent was revealed.

Yan Zhuang realized the danger and tried to persuade him kindly: "General Cheng, please go back and think about your future. I will pretend that what happened tonight never happened. Be careful in the future... Please."

He raised his hand, wanting to send Cheng Ang out.

However, Cheng Ang had already rushed over and punched Yan Zhuang in the chest with a "bang", while roaring at the same time.

"I'll kill you, you treacherous villain!"

Yan Zhuang was hit so hard that stars appeared in his head and his chest hurt. He still wanted to hide, but he was knocked to the ground by Cheng Ang, and his neck was tightly grasped by a pair of large hands like iron clamps.

The two men wrestled on the ground, and Cheng Ang sat on Yan Zhuang, facing the bed.

A candle also fell to the ground and quickly went out.

Feeling suffocated, Yan Zhuang realized that he would really die at the hands of Cheng Ang. While he was still able to speak, he hurriedly said, "Listen to me...listen to me..."

He had planned to reveal all his painstaking efforts. He wanted to tell Cheng Ang that he was indeed Xue Bai's man.

"Die!"

With a loud shout, Cheng Ang interrupted Yan Zhuang's words and even covered his mouth and nose with one hand, not wanting to listen to the excuses of this capricious villain.

At this moment, something unexpected happened. Two people jumped out from under the bed, quickly pounced on Cheng Ang, and tried their best to save Yan Zhuang.

"You bastard!" Cheng Ang was furious and yelled, "You ambushed me? I'll kill you!"

"Quick, hold him down."

The two men hiding under the bed were also brave warriors. They tried their best to finally hold down the injured Cheng Ang, and took out the prepared ropes to tie him up.

Even after Cheng Ang was taken away, he was still unwilling to give up and kept cursing: "You bastard, you ambushed me?"

"Huh...huh..."

Yan Zhuang lay there curled up with heavy breathing, gasping for breath, staring at the two men escorting Cheng Ang away, his eyes full of vigilance and fear.

He didn't know there was someone hiding under his bed.

The reason why he didn't dare to tell Cheng Ang the truth just now was because he had always been hostile and sarcastic towards the Tang court. He didn't trust the people in the Tang court from the bottom of his heart, nor did he trust Cheng Ang. He was worried that Cheng Ang was sent by Shi Siming to test him.

Yan Zhuang was Xue Bai's man. He did not choose to surrender to Shi Siming because he was scared by Xue Bai. Xue Bai had a terrible ability to "turn the impossible into the possible". He destroyed An Lushan at his most confident moment, which became a shadow that he could not let go of for the rest of his life. When the idea of ​​surrendering to Shi Siming came up again, he thought about the consequences of being captured by Xue Bai again, so he still chose to carry out his mission.

He did not give the secret decree to Wu Chengen because he thought that if it was not kept secret, it would not work. At that time, Shi Siming was about to become emperor and his morale was high. Once Wu Chengen got the secret decree and contacted his generals, the news might leak out. Moreover, Xue Bai was reluctant to appoint Wu Chengen as the governor of Fanyang. Instead, he paid more attention to whether he could delay Shi Siming. Therefore, Yan Zhuang regarded delaying Shi Siming's pace and weakening his strength as his top priority. Only when Shi Siming showed signs of decline would he turn against him.

Cheng Ang came to visit unexpectedly tonight, and Yan Zhuang almost revealed his true feelings.

Looking back now, Cheng Ang seemed to have seen the person under the bed when he was pinching him, and the moment the candlestick fell to the ground, Cheng Ang covered his mouth to prevent him from telling the truth.

"If a ruler is not discreet, he will lose his ministers; if a minister is not discreet, he will lose his life; if a plan is not discreet, harm will occur. Therefore, a gentleman is cautious and does not go out of his way."

Yan Zhuang murmured to himself, constantly reflecting on himself.

After a long while, he felt that the crisis was over, and then he dared to stand up, looked up at the moon outside the window, and thought to himself: "I have done my best, Prince Yong should prepare for Shi Siming's southward march as soon as possible."

~~
On the same night, in Shu County, thousands of miles away, Xue Bai's messenger had already rushed to Yan Wu's army.

The person who came was Jiang Hai. As the person who was most "anti-court" towards the court around Xue Bai, Jiang Hai's visit obviously represented a certain attitude of Xue Bai.

When he urged Yan Wu, he also appeared very strong.

"This time, the court will never allow the rebels to cross the Yellow River, and the Eastern Capital must not fall again. Prince Yong is determined to complete the task in one battle and pacify Shi Siming. To achieve this, how can we allow the Emperor to arbitrarily announce some decrees that are not conducive to the overall situation in Shu County?"

At this point, Jiang Hai's eyes flashed with a fierce look, and he said: "Even if we have to tie him up, we will tie up the emperor back!"

Yan Wu said, "This matter is not that simple."

"Why?" Jiang Hai said, "If you don't dare to ask the emperor to come back, I will do it!"

"The Tubo invaded." Yan Wu said, "I have written down the details of this matter and sent a fast horse to report it to King Yong. According to the time, the messenger has also arrived in Chang'an."

~~
Changan.

Late at night, Yan Zhenqing was still working on his official duties by candlelight when he suddenly heard his family members say, "Ah Lang, my son-in-law is here."

"So late?"

Yan Zhenqing just raised his head and saw Xue Bai walking in.

In private, the two never addressed each other by their official titles, and always spoke with the attitude of teacher and student, and father-in-law and son-in-law.

"You came here so late at night. Did something big happen?" Yan Zhenqing asked, "Luoyang?"

"Don't worry, father-in-law. Shi Siming has not yet gone south." Xue Bai said, "Yan Zhuang did a good job this time. He held back the rebels by himself."

"If we want to defend ourselves against the enemy, we must invite the emperor back as soon as possible." Yan Zhenqing said, "If we want to rule the world, we must first win over the people's hearts."

"Something happened in the west." Xue Bai said, "The Tubo invaded. Previously, they sent troops to capture Weirong, Shenwei, Dingrong, Xuanwei, Zhisheng, Jintian, and Tiancheng in Longyou. Now they have captured the three cities of Shibao, Baigu, and Diaoke."

Not only that, he said, taking out a map and a letter from his sleeve and placing them in front of Yan Zhenqing.

"In the Jiannan direction, Zhezhou, Jingzhou, Minzhou and other places were also threatened by the Tubo army. Nanzhao also seemed to have rebelled again. Some Nanzhao people followed the Tubo army to attack Wenchuan, Fangwei, Qionglai and other places."

"When it rains, it pours." Yan Zhenqing sighed.

Xue Bai said: "But on the other hand, the imperial court has clearly received a letter from Tubo, requesting that they send troops to help us quell the rebellion."

Yan Zhenqing stroked his beard and said, "He must be trying to make the Tang Dynasty relax its vigilance."

Xue Bai said: "After my father-in-law came back from Longyou, he immediately encountered An Lushan's rebellion. I haven't had the chance to talk to him about the Tubo situation at that time."

Yan Zhenqing nodded and began to speak slowly.

"You also know about this matter. The Subi tribe was unwilling to be conquered by Tubo, so they contacted Geshu Han and wanted to submit to the Tang Dynasty. We took this opportunity to contact Lang Meise and Modong Zebu, two of the nine ministers of Tubo. They assassinated Chidai Zhudan in Yazhubeica."

Xue Bai was not surprised and said, "In other words, around the same time as An Lushan's rebellion, Tubo also experienced a rebellion."

"That's right," Yan Zhenqing said, "but judging from the news from the Subi tribe a while ago, the Tubo suppressed the rebellion much faster than we did. The Tubo general Dazalugong was a capable man. He killed Langmeisel and Modongzebu. When we were resisting An Lushan, he also suppressed the rebellion of the Subi tribe and supported the ten-year-old Trisong Detsen."

"Is that because he doesn't have an emperor emeritus or a loyal prince to hold him back?" Xue Bai said.

Yan Zhenqing did not respond to the criticism of the imperial carriage, but said worriedly: "Dazalugong should not be underestimated. Seeing that the Tang Dynasty is in constant turmoil, he has become covetous. From now on, the situation in the west will probably not be peaceful."

"What's even more troubling is that our retired emperor, taking advantage of the Tibetan invasion, has appointed many military governors and has no intention of giving up power."

Xue Bai was obviously very angry with Li Longji, and although he tried his best to suppress it, his anger still showed from time to time.

He spread out the map, pointed at it, and patiently told Yan Zhenqing about the recent decrees of Shu County.

"First, in order to prevent us from obtaining food and grass through the Languan Road, he issued an order to dismiss Nanyang Governor Lu Jing, and appointed Yongwang Li Lin as the governor of Shannan East Road, Lingnan, Qianzhong, and Jiangnan West Road, and the Grand Commander of Jiangling County. He ordered Helan Jinming, Du Mian, Li Baoyu, Bai Yuanguang, Guo Yingyi and others to blockade Guanzhong in Liangzhou, Shangzhou, Xuzhou, Songzhou, Xuzhou and other places. Afterwards, he granted many officials and conscripted male adults in Shu in the name of fighting against Tubo. What was he doing?"

Yan Zhenqing looked at the map in silence, knowing that the emperor really wanted to seize power by force.

He could actually understand this.

Li Longji had already issued an edict to pass the throne to Li Heng, denied Xue Bai's title as the emperor's grandson, and rebuked Li Cong. Although Li Heng surrendered, Li Longji did not want to lose face, or perhaps it was to protect the Tang Dynasty from falling into the hands of outsiders. In short, the situation was tense.

"There are two things going on here. One is the Tibetan invasion from the south; the other is the emperor's determination to seize power."

After a long while, Yan Zhenqing finally spoke, pointed at the map, and sighed, "Let me take care of this one."

He pointed his finger at the location of Tubo on the map.

Xue Bai asked, "Does the father-in-law have any solution?"

"Let's give it a try." Yan Zhenqing said, "Perhaps this matter still falls on the Tubo princess you captured that year."

"Nalan Zhen?"

Yan Zhenqing said, "When I sent her back to Tubo, we often talked about the war between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo. Every time Tubo invaded the east, it claimed to have tens of thousands of cavalry, but the Tang Dynasty could often kill tens of thousands of people with only a few thousand soldiers and horses. Why is that?"

Xue Bai also heard Wang Zhongsi talk about this and said, "How could there be tens of thousands of cavalry? It's just that the Tibetan army drove the herdsmen to fight every time."

"Yes, the people living on the border are the ones who suffer." Yan Zhenqing said, "The Tibetan general Qilixu and Cui Xiyi held an alliance because many people in Tibet did not want to go to war with the Tang Dynasty. Nalanzhen does not trust Dazhalugong, so she may be able to put some obstacles in his way, but in the end, it can only delay the war. We have to wait until the rebellion is quelled and the army can resist Tibet."

Xue Bai nodded, knowing that Yan Zhenqing still did not want to get involved in dealing with Li Longji.

Then, it was up to him to figure out how to bring Li Longji back.

He thought about it, and after returning home, he picked up his pen and wrote many letters, all of which were addressed to the generals who stayed in Nanzhao and Jiannan areas after the Nanzhao Rebellion was quelled.

There was Zheng Hui who was kidnapped to Nanzhao, Wang Tianyun who led his army across Cangshan Mountain, Li Feiyuanli who was both wise and brave, and Cui Guangyuan who sought to be the governor of Yunnan...

(End of this chapter)