Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 522: A Big Deal
Xue Bai woke up when the sunlight shone into the house through the broken window. Being in a city guarded by Zhang Xun, he slept very peacefully. It was a rare rest for him in recent times.

After all, although he arrived in Henan, he did not interfere with Li Guangbi's strategic command.

Diao Bingzheng and Diao Geng were having breakfast in the courtyard. When they heard some noise in the house, Diao Bingzheng came in with half a Hu pancake in his mouth. He put his greasy hand into his mouth and sucked it, then reported in a low voice: "My dear, Bai Zhongzhen secretly went to see Zhang Xun last night."

"Oh, give me one too." Xue Bai ate the same thing as them, and asked them to bring in the Hu Bing to eat together.

He listened to the report and learned that Hun Yu had also gone. He then spoke slowly, "Young people are shy and let people ridicule him for mixing with treacherous eunuchs."

"I understand." Diao Bing said, "Shame on him."

Diao Geng hadn't used a knife for a long time, and his hands were itching to do something. He asked, "My dear, I think Bai Zhongzhen is cunning and treacherous. Should I kill him? Otherwise, I might make a big mistake."

"No need. Just watch him make a scene. If Zhang Xun can hang out with these people, he's no longer Zhang Xun."

Xue Bai thought of the eunuchs around Li Heng whom he had killed in Jingzhou. He knew that as long as Li Cong still wanted to seize power, if he killed one group of eunuchs, Li Cong would castrate another group.

He then temporarily ignored Bai Zhongzhen and talked about business, saying, "Have the official documents been delivered? Let Li Zhi and Li He go to Bianzhou quickly to discuss military affairs."

"The post horse set out before daybreak."

Diao Geng couldn't help but think that if the husband didn't kill Bai Zhongzhen, he might want to kill the successor to the Wu King Li Zhi.

Even he knew that Xue Bai wanted Li Zhi to hand over his power as the Jiedushi of Henan.

~~
Yanzhou.

In the midst of the wind and snow, the postman delivered the official document to Li Zhi, the successor to the King of Wu and the then governor of Henan.

Li Zhi had an elder brother who was famous for his military achievements. He was Prince Xin'an Li Yi, who had defeated the Xi and Khitan. However, Li Zhi's mother had a higher status and inherited the title of the King of Wu.

He is more than 20 years younger than Li Yi, and is now nearly 70 years old, but he is still tall and strong, with an elegant demeanor. He is an elder of the royal family and has great prestige.

At the most critical moment of the Tang Dynasty when An Lushan attacked Luoyang, he recruited soldiers to fight against the bandits as the prefect of Dongping, maintained stability in the Qi and Lu areas, and indirectly helped Yan Gaoqing, Zhang Xun and others to defend the gateway to Jianghuai, making great contributions.

That day, he received the document from Xue Bai summoning him to meet him. He sighed and said to his officials, "He is going to blame me for not being able to stop Zhou Zhi."

An aide immediately responded, "Your Majesty's title and position are no less than that of Prince Yong, and your qualifications, prestige, and achievements are far superior to his. Why should you be afraid? If he sends a letter to summon you, just don't go."

Li Zhi said: "He controls all the armies in the name of the marshal. If he can go from Luoyang to Bianzhou, he can also go from Bianzhou to Yanzhou. The country is in trouble now. What if he leads his troops to attack and Henan is in trouble again? What should we do?"

"The Lord of the Palace is an old man from the royal family. How dare he treat him like this? Isn't he afraid of the public gossip in the world?"

Li Zhi was still hesitant, twirling his long beard, and then someone stood up to give him advice.

This man was named Deng Jingshan and was a man of Li Heng. During the Tianbao period, he was a judge in the Dali Temple. He interrogated Yuan Xun in the Bamboo Paper Case and was promoted to Censor for his meritorious service. After the rebellion broke out, he fled to Lingwu and was appointed as the Jiedushi of Qingqi by Li Heng.

The so-called Qingqi Jiedushi was in charge of Qingzhou and Qizhou. Li Heng appointed Deng Jingshan because he was from Qi and Lu, hoping that he could control the area without any soldiers. After Deng Jingshan took office, he quickly persuaded Li Zhi to support Li Heng and completed his mission. However, when they made a show of strength, Li Heng surrendered first.

The emperor did not recognize Deng Jingshan's title of Qingqi Jiedushi, but Li Zhi admired Deng Jingshan's integrity and frugality, so he recommended him to serve as a military magistrate under the imperial court. The court wanted to unite all regions to suppress the rebellion, so it agreed.

"Your Excellency is an old member of the royal family. If you go to meet him, Prince Yong will never dare to harm you." Deng Jingshan said, "Zhang Xun is in Bianzhou now. He has a good reputation and will never let anyone harm you. Prince Yong did not summon you in Luoyang but went to Bianzhou in person to show his sincerity. On the contrary, if your Excellency does not go, he will find an excuse for 'disobeying military orders' and dismiss you from your post as Jiedushi!"

"Really?" Li Zhi was still worried.

Deng Jingshan said, "I heard that Guangling Governor and Yueguogong Li He has sent grain to Ningling. He is the son of Prince Xin'an and the nephew of the Lord of the Palace. Why don't you send someone to contact him and go to Bianzhou together? The two famous officials of the royal family, plus Zhang Xun, are upright and incorruptible. Why should they be afraid of Prince Yong?"

As he spoke, his expression became solemn, and he said, "At that time, not only can the Prince of Yong not hold the Lord responsible for his temporary defeat by Zhou Zhi, but the Lord will also have to ask him why he allowed someone to kill Helan Jinming!"

After hearing this, Li Zhi felt that there was some truth in it, so he immediately sent a messenger to meet Li He to ask about his attitude.

The messenger rode at full speed and arrived in Ningling the next day, but he had to wait for a while outside the government office before he was received by Li He.

Li He had read Xue Baifa's official document yesterday, and today he was inviting Li Bai to meet him and ask about some old matters, so he was delayed for a while before meeting Li Zhi's messenger.

After reading Li Zhi's letter, Li He glanced at Li Bai next to him, pondered for a moment, and gave a reply.

"I still want to investigate the doubts about Prince Yong's background, but he is clinging to power, which is beyond his right. He even wants to dismiss my uncle from his post. I will never agree to it!"

After expressing his attitude clearly, Li He then gave a solution.

Not long ago, he fought side by side with Zhang Xun to fight the enemy and opened up the grain route blocked by Zhou Zhi. He trusted Zhang Xun very much. He also knew that Xue Bai did not bring many troops and that Zhang Xun was the most powerful person in Bianzhou City. So he asked Li Zhi to go with him to give Xue Bai a warning and make the attitude of the royal family clear to the world.

In order to let Li Zhi feel at ease to go to Bianzhou, Li He also made a guarantee.

"As long as my nephew is here, I will never let him hurt my uncle."

The uncle and nephew reached a consensus, and then made an appointment to go to Bianzhou to discuss military affairs under the order of the Marshal of the Army.

~~
The carriage left deep ruts on the snow and slowly entered the city of Bianzhou.

In front of the team, several important figures on the Henan battlefield met. They were all polite to each other and the atmosphere was much better than expected.

Xue Bai was not wearing armor, but a plain robe, and he looked calm and modest. This made Li Zhi feel more at ease, thinking that Xue Bai had asked him to come here just to get familiar with the enemy and discuss important matters with him.

"When the Emperor wanted to depose Crown Prince Ying, I was also strongly opposed to it."

After chatting for a while, Li Zhi actually had a good impression of Xue Bai. He sighed and said, "You have suffered since childhood. It is rare that you can clear your grievances and redress the case of the three concubines. What is even more rare is that you have never felt resentful and have always wanted to serve the country. Li Ying should be smiling in his grave for having such a son."

At the end of the story, Li Zhi even burst into tears, and Xue Bai had to comfort him.

The two seemed to have become relatives who rarely recognized each other. Li Zhi and Li Longji were of the same generation and were cousins ​​within the fifth degree of mourning, so Xue Bai called him "Aung".

After Li Zhi wiped away his tears, he changed the subject and said, "But everything is excessive or insufficient. When the water is full, it will overflow; when the moon is full, it will wane. You have defended Chang'an, and your contribution is enough. You must not cling to power and arouse suspicion. In the end, you will make mistakes!"

"What the old man said is true." Xue Bai said, "I and the old man should encourage each other with this."

The scene was silent.

Li Zhi was still wiping away tears with emotion. Hearing this, he raised his head with a surprised expression and turned to look at Li He.

Li He frowned immediately and asked, "What do you mean, Sanlang?"

"Ah Weng is old, and for the sake of his health, he should not work hard on the saddle horse anymore." Xue Bai said: "The royal family in the court is declining, and the position of Zongzhengqing is vacant and waiting for a talented person. Isn't it more suitable for Ah Weng?"

"Are you trying to blame me?" Li Zhi was very angry. He knocked his cane hard and asked, "Since the rebellion, have I ever done anything wrong to the court?!"

He knew Xue Bai was going to attack him, so he took the initiative. Then, without waiting for Xue Bai to continue, he waved to Zhang Xun and changed the subject.

"come and see."

Li Zhi turned around tremblingly, pointed his cane at the carriages and horses behind him, and said, "We transported some food and fodder from Yanzhou."

Hearing this, Zhang Xun and the soldiers behind him all showed joy. Seeing this, Xue Bai was not in a hurry and waited to see what Li Zhi would do first.

Deng Jingshan stepped forward and explained, "The food has been prepared long ago to support Bianzhou. But before that, Bianzhou was surrounded by Zhou Zhi, so it was inconvenient to support it, and it was delayed."

"I'm sorry for making you suffer." Li Zhi bowed to everyone and said in an old and sad voice: "I apologize to you!"

"You must not do this." Zhang Xun hurried to help.

In fact, Li Zhi had many opportunities to provide support before, but it was obviously delayed because of the power struggle in the court and then because of Helan Jinming's incident. It was not until Xue Bai came that they were forced to transport grain.

This move of theirs quickly won the favor of the soldiers in Bianzhou.

In the chaos, Bai Zhongzhen seized the opportunity and stepped forward to support Li Zhi, saying with a smile: "King Wu has worked hard for the country, how can he be so self-deprecating? Come in and have a seat. The army is hosting a banquet today to reward the soldiers!"

Xue Bai and Zhang Xun had no original plan to hold a banquet, but since the atmosphere had been set here, they could not let the soldiers down.

This gave the eunuch supervising the army the opportunity to interfere in some minor military affairs.

Zhang Xun frowned, a little unhappy about this, but when he turned around and looked at Xue Bai, he found that Xue Bai didn't care much.

Whoever cares about this military supervisor can take care of it.

Soon, carts of food and fodder were unloaded, and each camp started making fires and cooking.

However, a small accident occurred in this matter.

At that time, everyone was talking in the hall when they suddenly heard a quarrel outside. They called the generals to ask and found out that there was a conflict between the soldiers from Bianzhou and Yanzhou.

Zhang Xun then called Nan Jiyun over and asked him what had happened.

"Envoy, the successor King of Wu is really bullying us! He said he was bringing food to reward the army, but all he brought was stale and rotten rice. We fought for our country, but we are being treated like stray dogs?!"

At the end of the conversation, Nan Jiyun turned to look at Li Zhi, his eyes wide open, questioning him.

Li Zhi didn't understand and asked Deng Jingshan what was going on.

Deng Jingshan leaned over to Li Zhi's ear and whispered, "We brought the food and fodder here with good intentions. I don't know why they are deliberately making things difficult for us."

As he spoke, he reacted and added, "This man is Nan Jiyun, who wrongfully killed Helan Jinming. He must have been instructed by Prince Yong to provoke a conflict between the Lord of the Prefecture and Bianzhou."

Li Zhi then understood what was meant, and with a pleasant face, he invited Zhang Xun to come forward, saying, "You should find out what is going on, and don't believe what I say."

The sound was not loud, but Nan Jiyun still heard it. His face changed immediately, and he clasped his fists and half-knelt between Xue Bai and Zhang Xun.

"I will report the truth without any nonsense! I will not frown even if I die on the battlefield. How can I slander the successor to the King of Wu for a few rotten grains of rice?"

"stand up!"

Compared with Zhang Xun, Xue Bai seemed to be more protective. He stepped forward to help Nan Jiyun up without saying a word, but just looked at Li Zhi and Li He with a stern face.

These two people are his elders, so for the time being, he pretends to listen to their opinions on how to deal with the matter.

"Seeing is believing. Let's go and see it before making any conclusion." Li He said.

So everyone got up and went to look at the food together.

I could see the white smoke rising from the cauldron from a distance and could already smell a rotten smell. When I got closer, a cook came up with some millet and said, "Look, sir, it's all rotten rice."

Blowing away the white snow that had fallen on it, you could see that the corn had turned completely black and was eaten by insects beyond recognition. It was impossible to tell which was mold and which was millet.

Diao Bing took a closer look and saw many small insects crawling out of the mold spots and wriggling above.

He immediately thought of the hard times he had lived in the past, and his whole face wrinkled. He was a very frugal person, and he would not throw away a pair of straw sandals even if they were worn out. Even though he had become rich now, he was still wearing the shoes he had taken off Song Zhiti's body at Luhun Villa.

"What a waste of food." Diao Bing sighed. It was a pity that the food was allowed to become moldy. It must have been there for ten years.

"How can it be considered a waste of food?" Diao Geng laughed and said, "Isn't the successor King of Wu transporting the food to us to eat?" With these words, the Bianzhou army all felt a common hatred for the enemy and looked at Li Zhi one after another.

Zhang Xun then ordered an inspection of all the food delivered. The soldiers stepped forward and punctured the sacks one by one, only to find that all that flowed out was rotten rice.

Li Zhi's face was already ugly. He looked at Deng Jingshan and asked, "What's going on?"

Deng Jingshan's eyes changed, and he stood up and said loudly to everyone, "These are the only grains left in the treasury. In the prosperous Tianbao era, the granaries were full of rice and millet, more than enough to eat. When the rebellion broke out, the bandits plundered, the people looted, and the soldiers were supplied. The new grain in the granaries has long been used up, and only these rotten grains are left!"

These words might explain to Li Zhi why he brought rotten grain, but they obviously could not eliminate the anger of the soldiers in Bianzhou.

Deng Jingshan also knew this, so he strode into the snow, faced everyone, and unbuttoned his official robe, revealing a patched and tattered inner robe. When he unbuttoned the inner robe again, even the spring shirt underneath was very tattered.

The spring shirt was lifted, revealing a skinny body underneath. In the Tang Dynasty where plumpness was considered beautiful, there were indeed not many officials as thin as him.

"The country is in trouble now. The people have suffered a lot. There are starving people everywhere. The people are living in misery. There is no more food in the warehouse. I will transport this food here because it is what we usually eat!"

As he spoke, he strode to the cauldron in his thin spring clothes, scooped up the cooked corn rice, held it high for everyone to see, and began to eat it in big mouthfuls.

"good to eat!"

"fragrant!"

Deng Jingshan was not afraid of the cold or the heat. He stood there with his long neck stretched out, chewing the food in his mouth. He ate happily and made satisfied shouts from time to time.

"When the Emperor went south, I was traveling from Chang'an to Lingwu. We ran out of food and had not eaten a single grain of corn for seventeen days. I ate rotten meat and grass roots on the roadside. Compared to those, this corn is so delicious!"

He did eat like this normally. Soon, some of his trusted officials came running out, knelt down beside him, and cried loudly, explaining to everyone that what he said was true.

Li Zhi sighed and thought that Deng Jingshan was worthy of the reputation of Na Qing, and finally stopped blaming him.

"Can we just throw away this rice grain if we don't eat it? If Lord Deng can eat it, why can't we?" Deng Jingshan's cronies cried out loudly, "It's a gift from afar, but the kindness is great. Lord Deng was afraid that you wouldn't have enough to eat, so he transported the only grain you had. What else are you dissatisfied with?!"

Nan Jiyun became furious when he heard this.

It's not that he couldn't eat these rotten grains. When Yongqiu was besieged, they gnawed all the bark of the trees in the city, ate all the rats, and even bit off the leather on the military weapons to fill their stomachs.

What he could not accept was this kind of deception and contempt. He and his soldiers endured hunger and fought to the death, not to eat rotten food after making military achievements.

But once Deng Jingshan came up with this self-torture tactic, nothing he said would be appropriate, and he could only hold back his anger.

Not only him, no one uttered a word of rebuttal.

Zhang Xun, who had always been considerate of his soldiers, was also dragged into a dilemma, so he simply stepped forward, scooped up a spoonful of rotten rice and ate it, and thanked Deng Jingshan for his kindness, indicating that the matter was over.

That night, Nan Jiyun and his soldiers were sitting in the barracks feeling depressed, but they heard some noise outside. It turned out that Diao Bing was coming.

"King Yong ordered me to bring these dry food, wine and meat, not much, to reward the soldiers. In addition, King Yong also brought a message."

"Brother Diao, please speak."

"We defended Yongqiu in the beginning, and later welcomed the emperor back to Chang'an, all for the sake of allowing the soldiers fighting the enemy on the front lines to have a full meal. The court may have difficulties, but it will never fool you. Some people are acting out their own drama today, and they will not really let you eat rotten food."

Nan Jiyun just breathed a sigh of relief and said, "With Prince Yong's words, we feel relieved."

~~
That night, Li Zhi still called Deng Jingshan over and complained to him.

"Since you know that we are here to join forces with Li He and Zhang Xun, why are you still so stingy? You almost lost the big picture because of the small one and ruined my important plan!"

"I know I am guilty, but do you think that if this hadn't happened, King Yong wouldn't have found fault with us in other ways?" Deng Jingshan said, "Zhang Xun's subordinates may have even eaten human flesh when they were hungry, but now that they have received grain, they are dissatisfied and make trouble. Isn't it King Yong who is behind this?"

Li Zhi thought what he said made sense and remained silent.

Deng Jingshan said: "I have nothing to be ashamed of in this matter. They thought they had found a flaw, but I want to let them know that they have hit a hard rock this time!"

He had a righteous face, and his clean and honest character became his strongest confidence, and he was not afraid of any attack. Even Xue Bai couldn't do anything to him.

Li Zhi agreed after thinking about it. What happened today was actually a case of Xue Bai suffering a loss and biting off a tough bone. It would be difficult for him to propose to remove him from his position next time.

"That's good. Fortunately, you have always been honest and frugal..."

At this moment, an official came to report, his tone somewhat mysterious.

"The military supervisor, Jun Jun, wants to see you."

~~
The next day, Xue Bai went to meet Li Guangbi's envoy and promised many things, including food, soldiers, military equipment, and armor. As long as Li Guangbi asked for something, he would not refuse anything.

Even Diao Bing, who was listening outside, was very surprised and felt sorry for Xue Bai.

"My dear, you are so generous. Where can you get the food and utensils from?"

After seeing off the messenger and having some free time, Diao Bing couldn't help but ask, "If you want to transfer them from all over the place, wouldn't that make it easy for you to be held hostage by Li Zhi, Li He and the others?"

"Just subdue them." Xue Bai said casually, "I wanted to make trouble yesterday, but they shut me up."

Diao Bing whispered, "Bai Zhongzhen was restless again last night and went to see Li Zhi and Deng Jingshan."

"Oh?"

Xue Bai was just trying to find an excuse to continue to attack Li Zhi, but he couldn't help but smile when he heard this and asked, "Do you know what they talked about?"

"I'll go check it out."

"Start with Hun Yu, and you should be able to find it."

"Here."

Diao Bing received the order and came out, still thinking about the rotten grain.

The strange thing is that he is a frugal person, and so is Deng Jingshan. Logically, he should be able to understand people of the same kind, but he always seems to dislike Deng Jingshan and can't figure out why.

Soon, he found Hun Yu.

Hun Yu was in a bad mood these past two days because many people in the army mocked him for being close to the eunuchs.

The young man was thin-skinned and quickly became annoyed. He wanted to curse back, but he was also wondering how the matter had been leaked.

He was sitting there feeling depressed when someone tapped his shoulder. He looked up and asked, "Did the King of Yong summon me?"

"Let me ask you a few questions." Diao Bing sat down and asked, "What did Bai Zhongzhen say to Li Zhi and Deng Jingshan last night?"

"you……"

Hun Yu was very surprised, but he quickly calmed down, withdrew his subsequent questions, and pursed his lips.

"Do you really think Bai Zhongzhen is the saint's special envoy?" Diao Bing said, "Are you trying to curry favor with a power-hungry villain who knows nothing about military affairs? Are you trying to curry favor with him at such a young age?"

"You don't have to provoke me." Hun Yu was very angry about this comment and said angrily: "It's no use provoking me!"

"Fawning on the powerful and clinging to the eunuch party..."

Only half a quarter of an hour later, Diao Bing went to report to Xue Bai.

"My dear, I asked, Bai Zhongzhen doesn't know anything, and didn't say anything important, but there is a small matter."

After Diao Bing told this as a funny story, Xue Bai was slightly surprised and asked, "Really?"

"Yes."

"Deng Jingshan doesn't look like that kind of person."

"I am used to being poor, so I am even more frugal than him." Diao Bing said, "But I also know that there is a code of conduct for thieves."

"This is not the way idioms should be used. Don't use them indiscriminately."

After saying this, Xue Bai quickly went to discuss military affairs with the generals.

For him, military affairs meant rectifying local forces and dealing with those who did not obey the court's orders. Therefore, he acted very tough as soon as he arrived at the scene, much more forceful than yesterday.

In front of a group of generals, Xue Bai asked directly.

"Deng Jingshan! You feed rotten millet to your soldiers and boast of your integrity. But you secretly ask for bribes of gold and jewelry from my generals. Why is that?!"

Deng Jingshan's face changed drastically when he heard this. He looked at Xue Bai with horror and murmured, "How could you..."

Soon, Nan Jiyun and his men found a box of priceless treasures from under Deng Jingshan's pillow.

The residence was watched by Yanzhou soldiers all night, and Deng Jingshan had just come out of the house not long ago, so there was no opportunity to frame him. In addition, Li Zhi was extremely shocked, and he seemed to know what happened. He just turned his head to look at Bai Zhongzhen, and saw that Bai Zhongzhen was panicked.

“This is not asking for a bribe!”

Deng Jingshan was also in a hurry, and he immediately defended himself, angrily saying: "This is a reward!"

"Who gave it to you?"

"Yes……"

Deng Jingshan was halfway through his words when Bai Zhongzhen started coughing out of fear. He kept shaking his head at him and signaled him with his eyes not to continue.

He did not want to embarrass the emperor, so he did not tell the truth. He said, "It was the King of Wu who rewarded me with gold and silver because he saw that I was poor. What does this have to do with the King of Yong?"

Taking a box of gold and silver is not a serious crime. The problem is that Deng Jingshan demonstrated his integrity and frugality in front of countless soldiers yesterday, but this happened today.

The news spread quickly, immediately arousing the anger of the soldiers in the city. For a moment, the crowd was outraged and difficult to control, and it seemed that they would not be able to appease the people unless Deng Jingshan was executed.

In fact, Li Zhi, Li He and Zhang Xun all knew that those treasures must have been used by Bai Zhongzhen to win over Deng Jingshan.

This eunuch is really incapable of doing anything good, but is always causing trouble! Do you really think that all officials are as greedy as them? How despicable and hateful!
Zhang Xun was helpless. He knew that the only way to save Deng Jingshan's life was to put him in prison. After hesitating for a moment, he said, "Please ask King Yong to order Deng Jingshan to be arrested!"

Xue Bai was not in a hurry, but looked at Li Qi and asked, "What do you think, old man?"

Li Zhi looked at Xue Bai's eyes and felt a chill down his spine. He knew that if he followed Xue Bai's wishes and cut off his arm as soon as he arrived in Bianzhou, it would not only be a matter for Deng Jingshan alone, but also a matter for him, an elder of the Li Tang royal family and a governor, to surrender to Xue Bai.

Then, not only did it fail to suppress Xue Bai's prestige, but it also made it rise.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but wonder, could it be that the eunuch Bai Zhongzhen is Xue Bai's man?
(End of this chapter)