Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 519 Plan
Sometimes, when Xue Bai faced Guo Ziyi, Li Guangbi, Yan Zhenqing, Yan Gaoqing, Zhang Xun and others, he would think of Yuan Zai's words reminding him to take advantage of the war to gain more private power.

The reason why these people are willing to listen to Yu Xuebai temporarily is because they believe he is Li Qian, and because the current chaotic situation makes it difficult for the Tang Dynasty to fight internally. But in fact, they are loyal to the Tang Dynasty, which will inevitably bring some constraints.

"Zhang Xun wrote me a reply."

Xue Bai placed Zhang Xun's letter on the table and said, "He thinks Li Zhi is mature and steady, and is a royal minister worthy of trust. He advised me not to replace him at the critical moment."

Yan Zhenqing said, "This is the wise words of an old man. Even if you ask the emperor to issue an order to replace Li Zhi, others will think that you are selfish and are taking the opportunity to eliminate dissidents. Shi Siming's troops have already reached the Yellow River, so you must not act like this now."

"I can't replace him."

Xue Bai knew that he did not have the power yet.

He is now the Prince of Yong and the Grand Marshal of the Army. The title of Grand Marshal sounds impressive, but it has always been held by only the princes and grandchildren of the emperor, and they are all nominal positions. The actual commander of the troops is the deputy marshal. It was during the An-Shi Rebellion that he took control of some of the military power through personal means.

As for the handling of government affairs and the appointment of officials, Xue Bai often achieved this through his cronies. For example, Yan Zhenqing was the prime minister, Yuan Zai previously managed the Ministry of Revenue, and Du Youlin was a decoration he placed in the Ministry of Personnel.

Well, Xue Bai couldn't control local officials at will with his current power. So he deliberately let Nan Jiyun get rid of Helan Jinming in a seemingly unexpected way.

This kind of thing can only happen once and not again. Now that Helan Jinming has been killed, we should try to win over Li Zhi.

Hitting one and pulling one is the correct rhythm to eliminate dissidents.

"Then issue an edict to appease Li Zhi, and ask him to fight the enemy wholeheartedly and not let the rebels cross the Yellow River."

"it is good."

Yan Zhenqing then picked up his pen and wrote a memorial in his bold and neat handwriting, ready to present to Li Cong.

They discussed political affairs, submitted memorials, received the emperor's approval, and passed them on to the officials. This was a very common process for them. Even Yan Zhenqing, who was honest and loyal, gradually got used to the feeling of holding great power.

Xue Bai looked at the rows of beautiful Yan calligraphy and wondered, if one day Li Cong rejected Yan Zhenqing's memorial, would Yan Zhenqing be able to calmly accept the loss of this power?
He knew that there would come a day when Li Cong would be unable to resist and seize power.

But right now, the most important thing for Xue Bai is to defeat Shi Siming and truly become "more meritorious than his master".

~~
Two days later, Xue Bai finally received a letter from Huainan, which was sent by an old friend. He felt like "the war has been going on for three months, and a letter from home is worth ten thousand pieces of gold."

When I opened the letter, I saw a short poem.

"Su Wu is on Mount Tianshan, and Tian Heng is on the island."

"With so many barriers in my way, when will I be able to return home?"

Xue Bai couldn't help laughing when he saw the poem. Although the mood of the poem was desolate and sad, it was written by Li Bai.

Since Li Bai asked him when he would return home, he dared to answer that he hoped it would be next year.

Next year would be the second year of Yingshun and the fourteenth year of Tianbao. He hoped that the Anshi Rebellion would be completely quelled so that Li Bai could return to Chang'an, sing in broad daylight, and be accompanied by youth.

Thinking of this, Xue Bai also thought of Du Fu. But there were too many things to do, so he withdrew his mind and focused on the contents of Li Bai's letter.

Li Bai had followed Li He, the governor of Guangling, and escorted 70,000 shi of grain to Suiyang.

It turned out that they had already arrived in Bozhou, but Helan Jinming sent people to take over the food and grass they brought, and refused to let their people cross the border on the grounds of chaos and danger in the north. Li He refused and stopped to get information. He happened to encounter Nan Jiyun's angry killing of Helan Jinming, so he entered Ningling and temporarily calmed the situation.

Xue Bai's original intention was to let Zhang Xun temporarily govern Bian and Song states, but he did not expect the arrival of Li He. Li He was also a royal family member, and a descendant of Wu Wang Li Ke, the nephew of Wu Wang Li Zhi, and the eldest son of Xin'an Prince Li Yi. In short, the uncle and nephew came together to the Yellow River front.

Fortunately, Li He admired Nan Jiyun very much and did not make things difficult for him.

In his letter, Li Bai praised Nan Jiyun's chivalrous spirit of "killing one person every ten steps" and used his relationship with Xue Bai to plead for him.

Xue Bai could imagine that Li Bai patted Nan Jiyun on the shoulder and laughed, "Hahaha, no problem. Sanlang and I are old acquaintances and close friends. I'll write a letter for you."

He had no idea who ordered Nan Jiyun to kill Helan Jinming.

Finally, Li Bai mentioned in the letter what he had experienced in Yangzhou over the past year, mainly his family. His wife Zong and Yan Yan and others were placed in a very safe place in the east gate of Yangzhou, hoping that if Shi Siming was pacified and the rebellion ended, they would be able to return to Chang'an.

Xue Bai looked at the envelope again and saw the letters from Yan Yan and Qing Lan. Although they also wrote letters to him on weekdays, they would still have someone bring letters to him whenever they could.

Seeing the two kinds of handwriting, one beautiful and the other clumsy, Xue Bai couldn't help but become a little anxious, hoping to clean up the mess as soon as possible and bring his wife back to Chang'an.

But it is not possible at the moment, as Shi Siming may cross the Yellow River at any time.

~~
This time when he returned to Chang'an, Xue Bai developed a new habit.

He converted a house next to the Marshal's Mansion into a Taoist temple. Whenever he had time every day, he would go to the temple, staying there for at least half an hour and sometimes for several hours, or even spending the night in the temple.

Others said that Prince Yong placed Li Linfu's daughter Tengkongzi in this Taoist temple and had secret meetings with her.

But in fact, after Li Tengkong returned to Chang'an, he still lived in Yuzhen Temple with Li Jilan. Xue Bai saw another Taoist priest every day.

"show you."

A map was unfolded. Xue Bai rubbed his hands excitedly, pressed a corner of the map with a chess piece, and said, "See if you can guess my strategic intention."

"I have no interest in worldly affairs. Why don't you let me return to the mountains?"

"Guess." Xue Bai said, "I can't let you go anyway. I'm just sitting there doing nothing anyway."

Li Mi said: "I have been thinking recently that the story about the Song Dynasty you mentioned was not a metaphor for the Jin Dynasty."

"Oh?"

"Is that your thoughts on the next dynasty after the fall of the Tang Dynasty?"

Xue Bai asked: "Why do you guess so?"

"Khitan." Li Mi said, "You are not talking about Xiongnu or Xianbei, but Khitan. The Khitan is still weak now. Is it possible for them to establish a country called Liao? Where did the Jurchens come from?"

"It's a long story." Xue Bai said, "If we can't deal with the rebels, the governors will become too powerful to be eliminated. There's no guarantee that no one will cede the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun to borrow troops from the Khitan. You see, Li Heng started the trend of selling out the country for personal gain. How can the Tang Dynasty be good?"

Whenever Li Mi heard Xue Bai slandering Li Heng like this, he remained silent.

"If the Tibetans control the Hexi Corridor again, and the Tang Dynasty loses Anxi and Beiting, won't the territory be reduced to this size?"

Xue Bai finally attracted Li Mi's attention to his map. He drew a circle with his finger and said, "This is the territory of the Northern Song Dynasty that I deduced... Of course, novelists' words cannot be trusted. They are just fabricated."

Li Mi's face remained calm, but he couldn't help but raised his hand and pointed a few times on the map.

"If we lose the counties of Hedong and Hebei, we will not be able to contain the tribes of the grasslands, we will lose the land for grazing horses, the danger of the Great Wall, and the protection of Yanshan and Taihang Mountains. Sooner or later, we will lose the Central Plains."

"So, I told you the story of the Song Dynasty's migration to the south."

"Making a lie?"

"It's a careful fabrication." Xue Bai said, "Okay, enough of the small talk, guess how I plan to put down Shi Siming? Completely put an end to the Anshi Rebellion."

He emphasized the tone and added the following sentence. This is very important, otherwise he would subconsciously think that it was easy to pacify Shi Siming, and that this person had been pacified in the original history. But in fact, it was not, it was just appeasement.

Xue Bai has no intention of appeasing.

Li Mi could feel this determination from his eyes.

So, Li Mi casually pointed at a place on the map and said calmly, "Really?"

"As expected of you, Brother Changyuan." Xue Bai asked, "Do you think this is feasible?"

"Who are you sending?"

"Who else could it be?" Xue Bai said, "Of course, the general who is best at charging thousands of miles."

Li Mi nodded, his eyes moved to the Yellow River on the map, and he said thoughtfully: "The premise is that we must defend Chang'an and not retreat."

Xue Bai asked: "Do you find it difficult?"

Li Mi asked in return: "Can we fight head-on? Can the Tang Dynasty afford such a loss? Can the generals and officials of all parties bear it?"

Xue Bai did not answer.

Li Mi said, "At that time, I offered advice to Prince Zhong, saying that the rebels were powerful, well-stocked with food and grass, and had high morale. They were also elite frontier troops, good at field battles and quick battles. It would not be wise to fight them head-on. Although the court now has famous generals such as Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi, there will be casualties if a decisive battle is fought. Once the troops are greatly damaged, the prestige of the court will not be enough to deter the officers and generals of the various towns. If they are defeated, Luoyang will be difficult to defend, and the Eastern Capital will be lost again, which will surely cause unrest in the world..."

This was the result of Li Longji's actions. Tongguan was lost once, and the emperor fled. When the rebels came south again, the morale of the army was much lower, and the Tang army could not afford to lose. If they could not afford to lose, they would not dare to fight, and if they did not dare to fight, it would be easier to lose.

It is like a hammer. Once the handle and the iron block are separated, even if they are reconnected, it will be easier to come apart the next time you hit it, and the user will not dare to use force again.

Besides, even if he could defeat Shi Siming, it would require the loss of too many troops, which was not what Xue Bai wanted.

"Brother Changyuan, do you have any strategy to teach me?"

"We must not allow Shi Siming to cross the Yellow River. If the enemy army reaches Henan, the soldiers and civilians in Luoyang will be terrified and it will be difficult to defend. We should order Guo Ziyi to lead his troops out of Changshan to cut off the enemy's food supply. Once Guo Ziyi moves his troops, the enemy will surely advance to Shangdang, so we must first defeat Cai Xide."

Speaking of this, Li Mi frowned and thought of something else.

"Shi Siming is a veteran general. He will not fail to guard Changshan. He even wants to take Taiyuan... What should we do?"

Xue Bai also thought of this question after being reminded by Li Mi. After thinking for a while, an idea suddenly occurred to him. He and Li Mi said in unison: "Huihe?"

"Yes, Uighur."

Before this, when Xue Bai was forcing Li Heng to surrender, Pugu Huai'en rebelled and fled to Lingwu. At that time, Xue Bai had no time to look back to the west, so he just wrote a letter to Pugu Huai'en to explain the righteousness, and after returning to Chang'an, he asked Guo Ziyi to send someone to persuade him to surrender. Now, the person sent by Guo Ziyi has not replied yet.

But if he were Shi Siming, he would certainly borrow troops from the Khitan, Uighur, and even Tubo, and would also win over Pugu Huai'en.

Thinking of this, Xue Bai stood up and was about to leave, but after taking two steps, he came back, put away his map and took it away.

Li Mi couldn't help but laugh when he saw this: "How can I leak military secrets? Even if I want to, I have to find a way to do it."

"Li Changyuan, you are a prisoner, and you still have the heart to joke?"

Xue Bai retorted casually, not having time to talk further, and left in a hurry.

Li Mi sat cross-legged, shook his head and smiled bitterly. He was planning to continue practicing. He closed his eyes and the map of the Tang Dynasty appeared again. He seemed to be able to see the displaced people in it.

After a long time, he opened his eyes. Instead of doing his homework today, he picked up a pen and wrote a few letters, preparing to write to some old acquaintances in the Shuofang Army.

After writing the letter, he sat there waiting, because he knew Xue Bai would definitely come again.

As he waited, he couldn't help muttering something.

"Dao's heart is in turmoil."

~~
"I want you to station with Yan Wu, Tian Shengong and others in Jingyuan, Fengxiang, Fengtian and other places to prevent Pugu Huai'en from colluding with the Huihe or Tubo to move south. Don't let them enter Guanzhong."

Lao Liang was stunned, looked at Xue Bai, stammered, and hesitated for a moment.

He was born in a poor family and had never been to school. Although he now holds a high position, he has no confidence that he can handle things on his own, because this time he not only has to fight a war, but also has to govern a region.

"My dear, can I do this?"

Only Lao Liang could ask Xue Bai directly like this.

"It's OK. Take the certificate and go." Xue Bai waved his hand and said, "I will write another letter to pacify Pu Gu Huai En. He may not attack us. Therefore, when you arrive in Jingyuan, the most important thing is to calm people's hearts and set up military settlements after the spring."

This was a difficult problem for Lao Liang. A hint of sadness appeared on his face, but he still quickly agreed.

Xue Bai made all the arrangements, thinking about how to appease Pugu Huai'en, and asked Li Mi again. This time, Li Mi was very straightforward and gave him an idea directly.

So, half an hour later, Xue Bai went to see Li Yuetu.

"Hey, it's rare for brother to come see me."

Li Yuetu and he were now siblings, and they became closer. She complained deliberately, "I thought my brother wanted to distance himself from us father and daughter."

Xue Bai said: "I came here today because I have something important to ask you."

"what?"

"You are not young anymore, you should find a husband..."

As Xue Bai was speaking, Li Yuetu stretched out his hand, waved it in front of him, and asked, "Brother, you didn't say that."

"I'm interested in Pugu Huai'en's son." Xue Bai said bluntly, "This was Li Mi's suggestion. He said Pugu Huai'en had a son, Pugu Zhen, who was 25 years old, gentle and handsome."

"If my brother has decided on this matter, can I still refuse?"

"I'm asking you this. If you don't want to, you can refuse."

"It's really strange." Li Yuetu asked curiously, "If you want to marry into a military family, why didn't you think of Princess Boping first, but asked me instead? Aren't you afraid that my grandfather will get close to Pugu Huai'en again?"

"It means that the royal family and the Pugu family have put aside their past grievances."

In fact, there was another reason. Xue Bai felt that Li Yuetu was delayed by himself, and she should be married off earlier if there was a suitable candidate. Li Yiniang had lived in the palace for a long time and was too naive. There was no need to rush to get married, and there would be more suitable candidates in the future.

"I won't marry." Li Yuetu answered quickly.

"it is good."

Xue Bai didn't force it and stood up to leave.

Li Yuetu thought for a moment and suddenly said, "I want to tell you a secret, brother. Is that okay?"

Xue Bai guessed something and didn't want to hear her secret, but he still stopped.

"Actually, I seem to... I seem to prefer to stay with women." Li Yuetu whispered, "Brother, do you think someone like me is weird?"

"Not strange." Xue Bai breathed a sigh of relief.

"I guess I can only be like Princess Yuzhen from now on, right?"

“It’s good to be free.”

Xue Bai answered perfunctorily and went to look for Li Yiniang. When he learned that she was in the palace, he went to ask for a meeting.

On this day, Li Yiniang was meeting Li Cong with several of her brothers and sisters. When she heard that Xue Bai had come, she was very happy and quickly called "Sanlang" to talk to her.

After a brief greeting, Xue Bai said, "Pugu Huai'en's son Pugu Zhen is a good candidate for a husband..."

He knew that if he spoke of the marriage proposal, Li Yiniang would agree, so he hesitated when he said this.

"oh?!"

Li Cong was surprised and looked at his adopted daughter, Princess Rongyi, who had been married to Emperor Anqing. When Emperor Anqing died, he saved his daughter and she was now Princess Ningguo.

After all, he had raised his daughter, so Li Cong had always hoped that his daughter could remarry. But this marriage was not easy. The sons of the noble families were unwilling to marry the widow of An Qingzong, and he did not have the ability to arrange a marriage with someone else.

Finally, Xue Bai said that they needed a royal family member to marry into the Pugu family, and Li Cong brought it up immediately.

Li Yiniang was also very happy and said, "Sanlang, then let Puguzhen come to marry my sister?"

"Alright."

Xue Bai was very willing to let Li Cong marry the general. Li Cong was very happy and could not sleep all night.

~~
A few days later, Lingwu.

The temporary palace where Li Heng once lived had been occupied by Pugu Huai'en, who had just received the envoys of Shi Siming and the Uighurs there that day.

The purpose was simple. He introduced the Uighur envoy and asked him to tell Shi Siming's people that he was the father-in-law of the Uighur prince, to demonstrate his strength and discuss the matter of attacking the Tang together.

There are two routes, one is to attack Chang'an, the other is to attack Taiyuan.

Shi Siming hoped that Pugu Huai'en would attack Taiyuan, and promised that after the success, he would be named King of Jin and his descendants would be princes for generations.

Pugu Huai'en wanted to make an agreement with Shi Siming that whoever entered Guanzhong first would become emperor. The envoy was furious and said that Pugu Huai'en was having a wild idea.

The two sides were never able to reach an agreement on this point, and the plan was shelved.

It was Fan Zhicheng who gave advice to Pugu Huai'en. He urged Pugu Huai'en to pretend to agree to Shi Siming's request, train troops and prepare horses, and pretend to attack Taiyuan. When Shi Siming and the court were both defeated, he would suddenly send troops to capture Chang'an.

"General, it is destiny that has been bestowed upon you. If you do not take what heaven has given you, you will be blamed!"

Pugu Huai'en was so excited by what he said. At this moment, a servant came over and said, "General, the old lady wants you to come over."

"Go here."

Pugu Huai'en was always filial, and he immediately strode towards his mother's residence. As soon as he entered the door, he said with a smile: "Mother, son..."

With a loud "bang", he was hit on the back by a broom.

"Auntie?"

"How dare you betray the court?!"

Pugu Huai'en had been hiding the rift between him and the Tang court from his mother, but he didn't know who had told the secret. When he looked over, he saw his mother's face was filled with anger. He quickly said, "Mother, you misunderstood. Your son is innocent."

"You still dare to quibble? I know everything you did!"

The old mother said sternly, "The court has granted you, a son of a lowly barbarian, the opportunity to marry a princess of wealth and status. Why don't you kill the rebel's envoy immediately and go to Chang'an in person to confess your crime and express your gratitude?!"

"How did mother know?" Pugu Huai'en was still puzzled. He looked at the people around his mother and thought to himself that he had only discussed this matter with Fan Zhicheng and it was impossible that Fan Zhicheng had told the secret.

"Still asking? Why don't you just do it?!"

"But my son feels wronged." Pu Gu Huai'en said, "My son is loyal to the court and has risked his life for it, but how has the court treated him? Since it is not worth risking his life for the court, why can't my son charge into Chang'an and seize the throne..."

"you dare?!"

The old mother was furious. She threw away the broom in her hand, turned around and picked up a knife, cursing: "I will kill you, the disloyal and unfilial traitor, to repay the great Tang Dynasty's deep kindness for generations!"

"Tiger--"

The knife chopped down mercilessly.

If Pugu Huai'en had not dodged quickly, he would have been chopped into two by his mother's sword.

He was still in shock, and ran out of the hall, exclaiming: "Are you crazy, mother?! My son wants to seize the throne and make you the queen mother, you really want to kill me..."

"God, I will take out the heart and liver of this traitor and show it to the three armies!"

"crazy?!"

Pugu Huai'en turned and ran.

He thought about it for a long time, wondering who had told him about his mother's matter, so he called a few generals under his command to discuss the matter.

"Is it you?" he asked Fan Zhicheng first.

"General, I was the one who advised you to rebel against Tang. How could it be me?"

"Is that you?" Pugu Huai'en looked at a general named Hun Shizhi.

"General, in my opinion, it was the imperial court that sent the imperial edict directly to the old lady." Hun Shizhidao.

"Of course I know. What I wonder is, who brought the imperial envoy to see my mother?" Pu Gu Huai'en said, "I checked and I think you are very suspicious."

Hun Shizhi quickly reiterated: "General, it is definitely not me..."

"it's me!"

Suddenly, a clear voice sounded.

When everyone looked, they saw a young general striding out. He was Hun Shizhi's son, named Hun Yu.

Hun Yu is only 19 years old this year. Although he is young, he has made great military achievements. He followed his father to join the army at the age of 11. At that time, Zhang Qiqiu, the governor of Shuofang, teased him and asked him if he had brought his wet nurse with him. As a result, in the second year, Hun Yu killed the enemy and made great contributions. Later, he followed the army to defeat the Helu tribe, participated in the battle of Shibao City, recovered Longju Island, and was the bravest among all the troops. He was promoted to Zhechong Guoyi.

Pugu Huai'en had always liked Hun Yu, and when he returned to Lingwu this time, he tried to win him over.

The young general faced Pugu Huai'en without any fear on his face. Instead, he shouted righteously, "General Guo Jie ordered you to go to Chang'an to confess your crime. It has been half a month. Why haven't you taken action yet?"

"Hun Yu, you..."

"I know what the general is thinking." Hun Yu said proudly, "To be honest, the imperial edict was sent to my grandfather."

"Hun Yu, you..."

"If the general dares to rebel, have you ever thought about the consequences?" Hun Yu said, "My Shuofang army will definitely not want to follow you. At that time, the general may as well step on the corpses of me, my grandfather, and tens of thousands of people before launching another attack!"

Pugu Huai'en was furious and immediately filled with murderous intent.

Hun Yu was not afraid and said, "But where can the general send his troops? To Chang'an, in the past, when the general served Prince Zhong as his leader, he was still defeated by Prince Yong. Now he has betrayed the Tang Dynasty, and his name is not right. How can he win?! To Taiyuan, General Guo Jie will fight alone without any soldiers. I dare to ask who under the general's command dares to attack General Jie?!"

"You boy, what do you know?!" Pugu Huai'en scolded, but did not order the arrest of Hun Yu.

"The general keeps saying that 'the Tang Dynasty has failed him', but the truth is that the general mistakenly trusted Prince Zhong and followed him in the rebellion, and was defeated by Prince Yong. It was the general who failed the Tang Dynasty, not the Tang Dynasty. Now the court has put aside past grudges and married the princess to the general's son. This is a great favor from the emperor."

Hun Yu shouted loudly, his momentum increased a bit, and he said: "General, if you lead the Shuofang Army soldiers to rebellion, your wives and children will be separated and you will be buried in a foreign land. Can you be worthy of the soldiers?!"

Hun Shizhi immediately prostrated himself before Pugu Huai'en and cried, "General, my son is a wicked man, but he is thinking about your future and your life. Why would you abandon the wealth and honor of your descendants and seek your own death?"

"I am loyal or rebellious, don't you know?" Pugu Huai'en stepped forward to support Hun Shizhi and said, "Get up and I will tell you, even in front of General Guo Jie..."

"General, you can't listen..."

"puff."

Suddenly, Hun Yu pulled out Pugu Huai'en's sword, turned around, and cut off the head of Fan Zhicheng next to him with one sword.

Just as Fan Zhicheng was about to speak, his head fell to the ground, blood spurting out from his neck. The scene was horrifying.

Hun Yu killed people without any fear, and his face showed a determination that was inconsistent with his age.

He dropped the knife on the ground with a clang, clasped his hands together, and said, "I have eliminated the rebellion for you. I only ask you to kill Shi Siming's envoy, bring his head to Chang'an and lead the way!"

Pugu Huai'en was a fierce man, but he was shocked at this moment. He looked and saw that the young general's face was covered in blood.

But what moved him even more was Hun Yu's passion. He had also had that before...

(End of this chapter)