Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 540 I can’t explain why

On the north bank of the Yellow River, in the woods, Wei Zichun looked up and finally saw the team coming from the north.

His eyes flickered slightly as he watched the group of people gradually approaching, preparing to walk on the ice to the south bank of the Yellow River. However, there were not many people, only about thirty people including the coachman.

Since Xue Bai had relinquished his military power and returned to Chang'an to put on a show for the world, he naturally would not bring too many people with him.

Wei Zichun also considered the possibility that Xue Bai was not in this team.

If this is the case, it means that Xue Bai must have been prepared to rebel, which is why he was so mysterious and tried to paralyze the court.

Today, Xue Bai will either lose his life or lose his reputation as a righteous man.

"Do it!"

Wei Zichun gave the order without hesitation.

He did not have many opportunities to take action. Although Li Zhi was willing to send people to help him assassinate Xue Bai, he refused to let Wei Zichun take action on his territory.

The ice surface of the Yellow River was wide, and they had already wrapped cloth strips on the horses' hooves and strung their bows and arrows. While Xue Bai's team was still preparing to cross the river, they suddenly surrounded them.

He brought more than a hundred elite soldiers with him, and Li Zhi sent more than three hundred confidants, a total of more than four hundred people, more than ten times the number of Xue Bai's team, more than enough for the siege.

The sky and earth were vast and covered with white snow. Black figures were closing in, creating a murderous atmosphere.

Suddenly, before they could get within the range of an arrow, a brave general suddenly rushed out from Xue Bai's team, drew his bow and arrow, and shot down one person with a "whoosh".

Wei Zichun also heard the other party shouting loudly.

"With Hun Yu here, who dares to attack us?"

The murderous aura of a general who has been fighting on the frontier for years is unmatched by ordinary people.

The so-called elite troops gathered by Li Lin looked tough and ferocious, but when they stood in front of Hun Yu, they were like a domestic dog meeting a wild beast.

The next moment, another rider, unwilling to be outdone, rushed out from Xue Bai's team and charged straight at Hun Yu, while shouting loudly as if he was competing with Hun Yu.

"Have you ever heard of Xue Zhan's name?!"

Wei Zichun had certainly heard of them. Hun Yu and Xue Zhan captured the Khitan Khan and Shi Siming alive respectively, becoming famous overnight. He could be said to be the youngest famous general under Xue Bai.

He suddenly felt a little timid.

But now that things have come to this, there is no turning back. If I don’t succeed, I will die.

On the ice, Hun Yu and Xue Zhan had led their troops into the midst of the assassins, killing them from both sides.

Occasionally, there were two sounds of firearms.

Seeing that the battle was not going as smoothly as he had expected, Wei Zichun immediately changed his strategy and ordered his subordinates to kill Xue Bai directly.

He had noticed that with the charge of Hun Yu and Xue Zhan, there were not many guards left around Xue Bai's carriage.

No matter how fierce those famous generals were, they could not stop so many of them from killing Xue Bai from all directions.

Soon, some death-defying warriors rushed in front of the carriage and thrust their spears straight in.

Wei Zichun's breathing stopped at this moment, and he stared at the carriage.

His killers cheered and opened the curtain of the carriage, then they were obviously stunned for a moment.

Wei Zichun immediately had a bad premonition. He turned his head and found that Hun Yu and Xue Zhan were not at all panicked by the assassination of Xue Bai's carriage. They continued to fight bravely and killed his assassins to pieces.

It was obvious that the carriage was empty and Xue Bai was not in it at all.

Fell into a trap.

Wei Zichun immediately shouted: "Retreat!"

He jumped on his horse and was the first to flee south.

It has been confirmed that Xue Bai's so-called march south was simply to confuse the imperial court.

It can be imagined that as long as the two young and impulsive generals Hun Yu and Xue Zhan were sent to Henan to recruit soldiers, Tongguan could be captured unexpectedly.

Xue Bai has rebelled.

He had to inform Prince Yong of the news as soon as possible.

Li Zhi had been nervously waiting for the outcome of Wei Zichun's assassination attempt in Huazhou City, pacing back and forth anxiously.

Finally, he heard the report that Wei Zichun had returned in a panic. He immediately thought to himself that something was wrong and worried that Wei Zichun's assassination would fail and Xue Bai would cause trouble for him.

However, after a quick meeting, Wei Zichun rushed to him and the first thing he said was "Xue Bai rebelled!"

"what?"

"Give me the fastest horse." Wei Zichun said impatiently, "I want to rush back to Jiangling immediately!"

Li Zhi naturally wanted to find out what had happened. He was shocked to learn that Xue Bai did not really go south, but only sent two generals.

When I thought about it at this moment, everything made sense.

No wonder Xue Bai gave up his military power so readily, and no wonder the troops came to Huazhou. Xue Bai must have been worried that after the rebellion, he, a Shandong Province Pacifier who came from a royal family, would rise up in arms to defend the king, so he wanted to resolve the trouble first.

Only then did Li Zhi realize that Hun Yu and Xue Zhan were ordered to get rid of him, but fortunately their plan was foiled by Wei Zichun's assassination attempt.

He was not sure how many people Hun Yu and Xue Zhan brought with them, and he didn't know whether Xue Bai had sent other troops, so he simply gave an order without caring.

"Quick, close the city gates!"

"You can close the city gates, but first send me a fast horse so I can report to Prince Yong." Wei Zichun shouted anxiously.

There were only about thirty people who came, but they were frightened like frightened birds.

~~
Chang'an, March 3rd.

This was actually the first month of the lunar calendar, and it was still snowing heavily in the middle of winter.

The post horse fell to the ground when it arrived at the city gate. The cold wind left scars on the messenger's cheeks. His hands were frozen and he couldn't even hold the reins.

He fell on the snow, but without even taking a rest, he immediately got up with difficulty, ran on foot, and delivered the information he had to Chang'an City.

The prime minister on duty today is Wei Jiansu.

He was frowning as he handled his official duties. He heard footsteps and raised his head, and heard a voice saying, "Prime Minister Wei, urgent news from Huazhou."

When Wei Jiansu took Li Zhi's memorial and read it, his pupils dilated, revealing an expression of "something bad is going to happen", but he also felt calm as if it was expected.

The news was simple—Xue Bai had rebelled.

This was a huge matter, and Wei Jiansu immediately found Chen Xilie to discuss it.

Chen Xilie sighed and said, "Don't worry, I will go to see His Majesty and call a small court meeting to discuss the response."

"it is good."

Wei Jiansu then waited in the office, wondering what Xiao Chao would say.

He was extremely anxious and felt like he was sitting on pins and needles. He kept getting up and walking to the door to look outside, but he never saw Chen Xilie return until curfew.

At first, he thought that perhaps the saint heard of this shocking change and kept Chen Xilie in the palace to discuss the matter.

But after waiting in the government office for a whole night, Chen Xilie still did not show up at dawn the next day. Wei Jiansu began to suspect that Chen Xilie had been frightened and had defected.
He left the government office, called the officials and asked about Chen Xilie's whereabouts. He was surprised to learn that the other party had returned home, so he went to look for him immediately.

"With such a big event, the left prime minister can still sit at home peacefully, but I don't know what the meaning is?"

Wei Jiansu was almost certain that Chen Xilie had betrayed the saint and defected to Xue Bai.

Unexpectedly, Chen Xilie waved his hand to signal him to calm down, and then said: "I wanted to report to the Saint, but Dou Wenyang suppressed me, and I didn't see the Saint."

Wei Jiansu certainly knew that the sage favored corrupt eunuchs and cut off the channels for speech, but he didn't understand why Dou Wenyang did this.

After all, the reason why the saint used Dou Wenyang was to deal with Xue Bai, so there must be some grudge between them.

Afterwards, Chen Xilie gave an answer that made him laugh, cry, and feel extremely sad and angry.

"Dou Wenyang once assured His Majesty that Prince Yong would not rebel. Now that something unexpected has happened, he is worried that it will affect his power and position, so he is keeping the news secret and is discussing a solution with his staff. He will not report to Your Majesty until there is a result."

"How can this be possible?!" Wei Jiansu was furious and wanted to go to the palace to meet the emperor immediately.

Chen Xilie knew that he couldn't see it, so he just let him go.

As expected, Wei Jiansu did not meet Li Cong that day. Instead, he was scolded by the eunuch Dou Wenyang.

"Prince Wei has no real evidence and dares to assert such a major event based on just a memorial. Isn't that a bit too hasty?!"

Dou Wenyang had not yet figured out how to clear himself of responsibility, so he had to keep the news secret for two days to buy time to prepare.

Wei Jiansu was extremely angry, but unfortunately, although he was the prime minister, he had no real power and could not even see the saint.

He wanted to bypass Dou Wenyang and report to the emperor in person, but after much deliberation, he decided to ask for an audience with Crown Prince Li Qu.

Unlike Li Longji's fear of Li Heng, at least for now, Li Cong still loves and respects his son Li Qiu, whom he has raised for many years.

~~
Dou Wenyang suppressed Li Zhi's memorial for several days. During this period, he also sent people to Henan and Shandong to inquire about the news. He learned that the situation there was relatively calm, but Xue Bai's team heading south was blocked by Li Zhi in Huazhou, and Li Zhi insisted that they were going to rebel.

He actually still believed in Li Zhi, but what was more important was to ensure his own power.

Finally, he had an idea and came up with a good idea.

The blame can be put on Li Zhi, saying that everything was under control, and it was only because Li Zhi had a conflict with Xue Bai that Xue Bai was forced to rebel.

In this way, he could not only absolve himself of responsibility, but also allow the saint to quell the rebellion in time, and he might even be able to take advantage of this opportunity to seize military power.

After thinking the matter through, Dou Wenyang went to report to Li Cong.

"Saint, something terrible has happened. I didn't believe that such a thing could happen. I sent someone to confirm it, and I'm afraid it's true."

At this moment, a eunuch came hurriedly and said that the prince wanted to see him for an urgent matter.

Li Cong liked this son very much and immediately allowed Li Qu to meet him.

Dou Wenyang was in control of the palace. He was surprised that Li Qu could suddenly meet him without his knowledge. Then he realized that Wei Jiansu wanted to report something without him.

It didn't matter. He had already prepared a plan, so he said, "Your Majesty, I think the Crown Prince must have heard about the rebellion of Prince Yong. This matter is related to Li Zhi, the successor of Prince Wu and the Pacifier of Shandong Province. I have been investigating these days. Please rest assured, Your Majesty. Although Prince Yong's rebellion is obvious, he has not yet officially raised his army..."

Li Cong received the news that Xue Bai arrived in Xiangzhou a few days ago, and he slept more peacefully at night. He did not expect such a change to happen. When he heard it, he immediately scolded Li Zhi for delaying the matter.

After Dou Wenyang had given a detailed narration, Li Qiu just entered the hall, so he stepped aside.

"My dear father, please be well."

Li Qiu was anxious, and his gesture of saluting was a little sloppy. Then he could not wait to say: "Father, something big has happened!"

Dou Wenyang knew that what Li Qu wanted to talk about was Xue Bai's rebellion, and his eyes showed a smug look as if everything was as he expected.

Li Cong also knew about this and thought that Li Qu was too impatient and believed everything he heard, unlike Dou Wenyang who was steady and would investigate thoroughly before reporting.

However, Li Qu's next words made them all stand up in surprise.

"Prince Yong has rebelled!" "Who?"

The two people who had been mentally prepared were both surprised and suspected that they had heard it wrong.

Even if it was Guo Ziyi or Li Guangbi who rebelled today, they would not be so surprised.

But Li Qu was very confident and reiterated it.

"Yong Wang Li Lin has raised troops in Jiangling, claiming to be seeking to remove the emperor's entourage."

Li Cong was puzzled and looked at Dou Wenyang. The two looked at each other, both very confused.

The one who rebelled was not Xue Bai? How could it be Yong Wang Li Lin?

Dou Wenyang had been keeping an eye on Xue Bai. After accepting the generous gift from Yang Xu, he just waited for Li Lin to present the treasures without any precautions, so he did not receive any news beforehand. At this moment, he opened his mouth, not knowing how to respond.

Think about it again, Li Lin threatened to purge the imperial court, but who was he going to purge?

Li Qu and Dou Wenyang had no conflict of interest, but the young man was pure and hot-blooded, and had long been fed up with the eunuch's abuse of power. He did not cover up for him and continued bluntly: "He has already announced to the world that he wants to suppress the rebellion and eliminate the treacherous eunuchs."

If the rebel refers to Xue Bai, the treacherous eunuch, who else could it be? Dou Wenyang then hurriedly shouted, "He is a traitor. He is plotting to take the throne."

Although he shouted loudly, he didn't understand the details and couldn't say anything useful.

Li Cong had no choice but to ask Li Qu: "What's going on?"

"Please ask your Majesty to summon the Minister of the Imperial Court, Wei Jiansu, to ask him."

In this situation, Li Cong did not care about anything else and immediately summoned Wei Jiansu.

Wei Jiansu was originally angry at Dou Wenyang for blocking the channels of communication, so he sent a letter to the Eastern Palace requesting a meeting.

This was a taboo for a minister, but fortunately Li Cong liked Li Qu very much and dared to agree to meet him and set a date. As a result, when he was about to leave, he received an urgent letter from the south, saying that Yong Wang Li Lin had announced to the world and openly rebelled.

Things have their priorities. Compared with the conflict between Xue Bai and Li Zhi, this is a real rebellion.

While waiting for the meeting just now, Wei Jiansu thought of a possibility that even made him feel unsure.

"It is too coincidental that news of the rebellion of Prince Yong and Prince Yong arrived one after another. I suspect that they may have secretly colluded and agreed to raise an army together."

Wei Jiansu raised this suspicion and immediately overturned Dou Wenyang's previous excuse that Xue Bai was forced to rebel by Li Zhi, and concluded that this was a long-planned rebellion.

When Li Cong heard this, he immediately felt a sense of urgency as if someone was strangled by the neck.

"Does Mr. Wei have any plan to quell the rebellion?"

"I think we can defeat them one by one, strike one and appease one, so as to prevent them from uniting."

Wei Jiansu gave a strategy and elaborated: "Although Prince Yong has conflicts with the successor Prince Wu, he has not yet openly rebelled; Prince Yong has already issued an proclamation to the world, and it is difficult to reverse the situation. I think we can temporarily appease Prince Yong and then select a general to lead the army to pacify Prince Yong."

Li Cong had finally managed to dismiss Xue Bai from his post. Now that he heard that he had to appease Xue Bai, he was extremely reluctant and said, "If he has rebellious intentions, what's the point of appeasing him?"

Wei Jiansu replied: "Everyone says that the King of Yong intends to usurp the throne, but I dare to assert that as long as the sage appeases him, he will not dare to rebel."

Li Cong was puzzled and asked, "Why?"

"King Yong's foundation is still shallow, and his identity is questionable. Previously, he led the royal army to fight against the Hu rebels and quell rebellions, and was supported by the soldiers. But if he raises an army, his subordinates will surely turn against him."

Wei Jiansu has been thinking about this matter these days and analyzed that the safest way for Xue Bai to fight for the throne is to wait until the emperor passes away, rather than raising an army.

"If Your Majesty can issue an edict ordering Prince Yong to temporarily stay in Fanyang, he will definitely not rebel."

After saying that, Wei Jiansu suddenly thought that Xue Bai was walking slowly along the way. Could it be that he was waiting for Li Lin to rebel?
If the two parties had an agreement, how could Xue Bai be sure that he could convince Li Lin?
Li Cong couldn't make a decision for a while and looked at Dou Wenyang again.

When faced with major events, the eunuch whom he had relied on so much in the past became speechless.

Li Cong then put aside Xue Bai's question and asked first: "Who can be the commander-in-chief?"

Wei Jiansu had already prepared a plan, and said, "Prince Yong is your majesty's brother, and his status is noble. Only by appointing the crown prince as the commander-in-chief of the army and Guo Ziyi as the deputy commander-in-chief, can the rebellion be suppressed."

The king and his ministers talked for a while. Li Cong could not make a decision and needed to think it over again, so he let Wei Jiansu leave first.

Dou Wenyang had been listening in, feeling a growing sense of crisis and worried that he might lose his power.

He couldn't think of a way to quell the rebellion, but he had plenty of ways to resolve his own crisis.

"Sage, Prince Yong was sent to Jiangling by the Emperor, and Wei Jiansu is deeply trusted by the Emperor. How can we be sure that Wei Jiansu and Prince Yong are not in collusion?"

This sentence reminded Li Cong that there might be something complicated behind Prince Yong's rebellion.

The retired emperor was well versed in power struggles. He never gave up after abdicating and kept trying to regain power. Who knows if he was the one manipulating everything behind the scenes?

In the following days, all kinds of news came in like snowflakes, and it was hard to keep up.

What concerned Li Cong greatly was that Li Lin actually stated in his manifesto that he raised his army in compliance with the secret decree of the retired emperor.

He was very disappointed and angry about this.

He finally joined forces with Li Longji, and out of blood ties, he hoped that father and son and brothers could work together to restore the country left by their ancestors, but he was betrayed again.

People's hearts are treacherous, and the struggle for power is becoming more and more complicated.

Li Cong has gradually lost track of everyone's positions, loyalty and treachery, and the right and wrong of various strategies.

He felt very confused and didn't know who to trust or what to do.
Just on the issue of whether to appease Xue Bai, the court was completely divided.

At this moment, Xue Bai's memorial also arrived.

This time, no one dared to suppress the matter, and the memorial was presented to Li Cong's desk as soon as possible.

The moment he revealed his identity, Li Cong felt an inexplicable sense of nervousness. He was afraid that Xue Bai would say something outrageous, and then he would have to face two rebellions at the same time.

Fortunately, after reading the memorial, he finally relaxed.

Xue Bai used a stern tone in his memorial, accusing Li Zhi of intending to assassinate him and asking the emperor to make the decision for him.

But at least there was no rebellion and he still considered himself a subject.

It was at this moment that Li Cong felt his fear and made a decision. He would comfort Xue Bai as Wei Jiansu had said.

After the decision was made, the next question that came to mind was, if one of Xue Bai and Li Zhi was right, then the other must be wrong.

~~
Huazhou, Li Zhi has been very worried recently.

He clearly felt Xue Bai's eager gaze.

After Wei Zichun assassinated Xue Bai's team that day, Hun Yu chased him all the way and demanded that Li Zhi hand over the murderer.

Li Zhi said that the assassination did not happen in his territory and he knew nothing about it. Instead, he accused Hun Yu of being a traitor who wanted to attack Huazhou, and then he closed the city gates and did not allow Hun Yu to enter the city.

Hun Yu was furious and brought more troops from Xiangzhou to attack Li Zhi. However, he did not attack the city by force, but just shouted and cursed at the foot of the city every day.

This situation is very much like a rebellion, but as long as Xue Bai does not formally raise an army, it can also be said to be a conflict of personal grudges.

Li Zhi certainly knew that this was not a personal grudge, so he submitted a series of memorials to the court while anxiously waiting for reinforcements.

Finally, he received the imperial decree, but after it was unfolded, he was stunned.

Before he could figure out why, he received news from the south that Prince Yong had rebelled.

Li Zhi guessed Li Lin's thoughts when he met Wei Zichun, so he should not have been surprised. However, he did not expect that Li Lin was so impatient and rebelled before Xue Bai.

From this perspective, Xue Bai was too patient and had not said anything until now. This made him seem like the one who was colluding with Li Lin and plotting a rebellion.

Li Zhi was deeply aware that something was wrong, and quickly ordered people to prepare pen and ink, as he wanted to write a letter to prove himself to the saint.

But before he could finish writing a memorial of self-defense, news came that Xue Bai invited him to meet outside the city.

"He's attacking?!"

Li Zhi had always thought that Xue Bai was still busy preparing for a rebellion in Fan Yang, but he didn't expect him to attack so soon.

But on the other hand, it was also a good thing. At least it was not difficult for him to justify that the reason he allowed Wei Zichun to assassinate Xue Bai was because Xue Bai was a traitor.

He immediately arranged for defense.

However, after the order was issued, the guard who came to report the news said that King Yong had only brought a few people and was not attacking the city.

Li Zhi didn't believe it, so he climbed up to the top of the city wall and looked. He actually saw Xue Bai waiting on horseback just within an arrow's reach. He was not wearing any armor, and there were no soldiers or horses around him.

If you want to assassinate Xue Bai, this would be a good idea.

After some hesitation, Li Zhi let Xue Bai enter the city and personally went to the long street to greet him. At the same time, he secretly ordered his confidants to prepare for action.

Although he had the urge to take action in his mind, when he came down from the stone steps on the top of the city wall and saw Xue Bai, he felt a murderous aura coming towards him.

However, after not seeing each other for a few months, Xue Bai's momentum has become even stronger than before. Hun Yu and Xue Zhan who followed him on both sides were also very majestic. Although they were few in number, they were better than thousands of troops.

"Why did you collude with the rebels and send people to assassinate Prince Yong?!"

As soon as they met, Hun Yu shouted a question in front of the soldiers at the city gate.

He was young and hot-tempered. He had suffered an assassination attempt and had been blocked outside the city gate by Li Zhi for several days. He was already furious, so naturally he did not have a good attitude when they met.

Li Zhi was acting out of public interest in this matter, but as long as Xue Bai didn't really rebel, he would be in the wrong. What's more, now that Prince Yong had rebelled first, he couldn't explain himself and had to deny it.

"Absolutely not..."

"I'll tell you!" Hun Yu interrupted Li Zhi before he could finish and said, "Prince Yong is the pillar of the country, and you dare to assassinate him? Aren't you afraid that the fierce soldiers of Fanyang will be left without anyone to suppress them and cause chaos again?!"

This sentence was a threat, and also a reminder to Li Zhi that assassinating Xue Bai would not make the situation better, but would only make it worse.

Now that Li Lin has rebelled, if Xue Bairuo dies, no one will be able to suppress the surrendered soldiers and generals in Fan Yang. If they take advantage of Li Lin's rebellion to establish their own regime, that would be a small matter, but if they attack him, that would be a big matter.

Li Zhi immediately broke out in a cold sweat.

When the soldiers around saw this scene, they became even more afraid of Xue Bai.

Who would dare to listen to the orders of the timid Li Zhi and kill a powerful pillar of the country?

After a while, just when Li Zhi was about to speak after thinking about his response, Xue Bai signaled Xue Zhan.

Xue Zhan then rode forward.

His warhorse was also unruly. It kicked and ran away, almost hitting Li Zhi. It only stopped after a long neigh.

The scene was a bit chaotic, but Xue Zhan had already taken out an imperial edict and began to read it.

The content was also simple. Because of Li Lin's rebellion, Xue Bai did not need to return to the capital, but should quickly return to Fan Yang to garrison.

In addition, Li Zhi's poor governance allowed Li Lin's men to cross the border and assassinate Xue Bai, so he was dismissed from his post as the pacification envoy of Shandong Province and returned to Beijing for employment. Hun Yu temporarily took over his position.

After hearing this, Li Zhi was speechless. He knew that the decree was true and that the sage did not distinguish between right and wrong. Right now he was only concerned with appeasing Xue Bai. Xue Bai also took the opportunity to recommend Hun Yu as the pacification envoy.

In this way, he, as a pacification envoy, could no longer order a single soldier to kill Xue Bai.

Xue Bai entered the city with only a few riders, and not only was he unharmed, he also always looked upright and open-minded.

(End of this chapter)