Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 544: Convincing the Public
Li Xiyan felt as uncomfortable as if he had swallowed a fly.

In his opinion, Xue Bai's pretense of being a loyal minister of the Tang Dynasty after seizing power was completely the behavior of a tyrant. If he was allowed to continue, once the Yongwang Rebellion was quelled, the Yongwang Rebellion would not be far away.

He paced back and forth in the government office, sighing, so one of his staff members asked him why he was so worried and wanted to help him share his worries.

Just as he was about to speak, Li Xiyan became suspicious, glanced at him, and said, "Are you also like Yuan Jingyao, who joined the King of Yong for the sake of a prosperous future?"

"Why do you say that, Governor? Does no one in the world care about orthodoxy anymore? I may be stupid, but I can tell right from wrong."

After hearing this, Li Xiyan couldn't help but burst into tears and cried with the aide.

Finally, he asked the other person's name.

"I am Zhao Kan, a minor official in the Guangling County government office."

"Good hero."

In the past, such petty officials would not have been qualified to talk to Li Xiyan, but now they can be entrusted with important tasks.

"I don't know who to trust now. It's hard for you to be so loyal. In this situation, Prince Yong has forced the emperor out of Chang'an, and Prince Yong has seized the military power in Jianghuai. I don't know what to do."

Zhao Kan said, "You don't have to worry too much, Governor."

"Oh?"

"This is a stupid idea of ​​mine. Wars are fought for money and food. According to Tang custom, when soldiers leave their towns to fight, the money and food expenses are all borne by the court. Now that the court has no edict, Guangling County should not pay for the military expenses. Although Prince Yong has seized the military power, he has actually inherited a trouble."

Li Xiyan understood immediately.

As long as he doesn't give Xue Bai military funds, Xue Bai will not be able to pay the military salaries and will soon lose the hearts of his soldiers; and if Xue Bai collects military funds from Jianghuai, he will lose the support of the people.

Li Xiyan didn't expect that there was such a talented official in the government office. He was very pleased and asked, "In your opinion, what should I do?"

"You may as well claim to be ill, and when Prince Yong comes to ask for military expenses, just refuse to give them." Zhao Kan said.

"good."

Li Xiyan stroked his beard and thought about it, and felt that this was a good idea.

So he fell ill that night, and sure enough, Xue Bai came to ask for a meeting the next day.

Before this, Xue Bai always pretended to go to Yangzhou to enjoy the mountains and rivers, as if he was at peace with the world. This was the first time he took the initiative to visit him, and his purpose was naturally to ask him for military funds.

Li Xiyan was full of contempt and deliberately pretended to be very sick. He mumbled something and did not answer any serious questions.

Xue Bai had no choice but to say goodbye and leave.

After he left, Li Xiyan stood up, lay down at the crack of the door and peeked for a while, feeling secretly proud. He told Zhao Kan to keep an eye on Xue Bai while he continued to recuperate, waiting for Xue Bai to come to him again when he could not raise the military funds.

He waited like this for several days, and every time he asked Zhao Kan about the situation in the city, the answer he got was something like "Prince Yong is in a state of panic."

Li Xiyan hadn't played dominoes for a long time and felt itchy. He couldn't help but call Zhao Kan again that day, but he didn't see him.

It was not until he sent people to inquire repeatedly that he learned that King Yong had already led his troops westward.

"What?" Li Xiyan was very surprised and asked, "How did you solve the military expenses?"

"King Yong said that quality is more important than quantity, so he led only three ships and less than 10,000 soldiers to the west. The military expenses were borrowed from banks such as Fenghuihang and the salt merchants in Yangzhou in the name of the court. After the victory, the principal and interest were repaid, and the interest was 20% higher than that of private loans..."

Li Xiyan was confused for a while.

When he came to his senses and rushed to the government office, he felt a sense of strangeness. Looking around, he saw that many of the busy officials had been replaced in just a few days.

"Where's Zhao Kan?"

Li Xiyan searched the entire government office, but never saw the clerk named Zhao Kan again.

He thought of how they had hugged each other and cried, and suddenly felt very sad.

Yes, apart from him, a member of the Tang royal family, how could a petty official care whether the heir to the throne had been a lowly slave or had questionable bloodline? They only cared about their own future.

Li Xiyan still had something to say to Xue Bai, so he hurried out of Yangzhou City and headed south to the Yangtze River.

However, when I looked up, the Yongwang Tower and its ships were far away, and only the Yangtze River could be seen flowing across the sky.

~~
Guanzhong, Fengtian County.

Emperor Gaozong of Tang, Li Zhi, and Empress Wu Zetian were buried together in Qianling Mausoleum, which is the area around Qian County, and was set up as Fengtian County to express respect for ancestors.

Emperor Li Cong has fled to Fengtian.

If you ask Li Cong why he wanted to escape, he was actually in a state of complete confusion. He only remembered that Dou Wenyang suddenly rushed into his bedroom, shouting that Prince Yong was going to attack Guanzhong, saying that he was responsible for the safety of the country and should leave immediately for safety reasons.

Li Cong didn't care about anything at the time. He thought that Li Lin was really about to attack Chang'an. According to Dou Wenyang's arrangement, he fled with his concubines and children, without even having time to say hello to the officials.

Although no sound of fighting was heard that night, Li Cong still felt an urgent and dangerous atmosphere.

They stayed in a dilapidated inn. When Li Cong turned around, he could see Dou Wenyang's seven-year-old adopted son, wearing a red official robe, sitting there yawning stupidly. When their eyes met, it was he, the emperor, who was a little at a loss.

Dou Wenyang was running back and forth, his forehead was covered with sweat, his eyes were full of fear, as if the rebels would attack at any time. Seeing this expression, Li Cong always believed that Dou Wenyang had indeed received the news.

After finally arriving at Fengtian County, Li Cong wanted to issue an imperial decree to order troops from all over Guanzhong to come to the capital, but he did not see any officials for several days. He was angry that these officials had no loyalty to the country and abandoned him, a saint, in times of crisis.

Fortunately, Dou Wenyang was loyal, diligent and capable, and arranged many brave generals to guard against Li Lin's rebels, so that they could not march straight into Guanzhong immediately after entering. Every time Li Cong asked about the situation, Dou Wenyang would introduce several generals to explain the battle situation to reassure him.

"Your Majesty, this is Zhou Zhiguang, a lieutenant general of the Imperial Guards. He is good at riding and shooting. It was he who spotted the rebels' scouts in Lantian and rushed back to report the news. Otherwise, Prince Yong might have taken advantage of the defeat of Cui Yuan to send troops to launch a surprise attack on Chang'an."

Li Cong looked over and saw that Zhou Zhiguang had a strong build and a tough face. What was rare was that he had a scar on his face just like him, which made him feel a sense of sympathy for him as soon as he saw him.

Zhou Zhiguang's armor was still stained with blood. He bowed and said loudly, "I will protect your majesty and will not allow the traitor to harm your majesty in the slightest!"

"What a great general!"

Li Cong was moved by his talent and personally stepped forward to help Zhou Zhiguang up. He immediately promoted him to be the commander of the army and ordered him to recruit brave warriors to protect the emperor.

Li Cong felt relieved, but where had Li Lin's rebels attacked? What was the situation in Chang'an? He still didn't know these questions. If he asked Dou Wenyang, he would get the answer that he was still trying to find out.

He could only sigh and continue waiting.

Fengtian was just a small county, and its food, clothing, and expenses were naturally not as good as those in Chang'an. That night, Li Cong sat in the dim candlelight, covered with rough bedding, thinking about everything that had happened since he seized power and ascended the throne, wondering what he had done wrong, and couldn't fall asleep.

"Tuk-tuk-tuk."

When there was a knock on the door, the eunuchs waiting in the room immediately became alert. They did not dare to open the door, but stood in front of Li Cong, at a loss as to what to do.

"Father, it's the child." Someone whispered outside the door, "The child is Li Qu."

Li Cong was very surprised.

If it were in Chang'an, it would certainly be impossible for the crown prince to break into the emperor's bedroom at night. To put it more seriously, this could be a serious crime of treason, which is how Crown Prince Li Ying was deposed and killed.

For a moment, Li Cong thought that both An Lushan and Shi Siming's sons had intended to kill their fathers, and a chill ran down his spine.

"I have something very important to tell you."

Outside the house, Li Qu spoke again, his tone revealing anxiety.

Li Cong then signaled the eunuch to go over and open the door. He himself stepped back a few steps and stood beside the screen, feeling inexplicably nervous.

The door opened, and only Li Qu was standing at the door, while several guards were still there, standing on both sides and looking at Li Qu.

Li Qiu was wearing a spring shirt and a cloak, and came empty-handed, without taking anything. The inexplicable sense of caution in Li Cong's heart suddenly disappeared, and the tenderness between father and son surged back.

"Father, I have a secret to report."

"What's the matter?"

Li Qu hesitated for a moment and said, "The reason why Dou Wenyang advised my father to flee Chang'an was not because Li Lin's rebels had arrived, but because he was worried that the ministers in the court would kill him."

Li Cong was surprised and asked, "What does this mean?"

Li Qu knelt down first and said, "The defeat in Dengzhou was believed by the court to be caused by Dou Wenyang's monopolization of power and favoritism. After Cui Yuan's defeat, several prime ministers and ministers were about to jointly petition the emperor to dismiss the powerful eunuchs and summon Guo Ziyi to serve the emperor. When Dou Wenyang heard the news, he took the emperor away from Chang'an overnight to protect his life and power."

"How could this be?" Li Cong couldn't believe it and asked, "What about Li Lin?"

"Although the rebels have entered Shangzhou, they have not yet passed Yaoguan. Why would my father abandon the city and flee?"

When Li Qu said this, he felt angry and anxious, and couldn't help crying because of Dou Wenyang.

He was young and shrewd, so he said whatever came to his mind. He gritted his teeth and said, "This eunuch, for his own selfish interests, disregarded my father's reputation and the safety of Chang'an, and did something that made my father a laughing stock. He should be cut into pieces and his crime should not be redeemed!"

Li Cong was stunned and couldn't imagine how the people of the world would view him if what Li Qu said was true.

He couldn't face this matter and wished that everything was just a dream and nothing existed when he woke up.

But when he woke up from the dream, which moment would he return to? Was it when he first ascended the throne and was manipulated by Xue Bai, or was it the small world in the Prince Qing's mansion? Thinking of this, Li Cong sadly discovered that he had never had a purely happy moment in his life.

"It's not that the court officials have abandoned my father, but they want to see him but can't."

Li Qu's voice rang out, pulling Li Cong back to the reality he had to face, saying, "Dou Wenyang controlled the channels of speech and even refused to allow court officials to seek an audience, fearing that the emperor would hear the truth and demote him."

"Where are they?" Li Cong asked, "Where are my ministers?"

"Mr. Chen, Mr. Wei and others have already requested to see you outside Fengtian County."

Hearing this, Li Cong became alert again.

He remembered that Wei Jiansu had also sought help from the Eastern Palace last time. Time and again, Wei Jiansu seemed to have placed his ambitions on the Eastern Palace.

So, is everything Li Qiu said true? Could it be the result of factional struggles in the court?

While Li Cong was still thinking, Li Qu could not wait to put forward his request.

"Please ask the emperor to depose Dou Wenyang and appoint Guo Ziyi as the deputy marshal to fight against the rebellion. He will surely defeat Li Lin in the shortest possible time."

~~
That night.

Dou Wenyang has already gone to bed.

The conditions in Fengtian were poor, and he was worried about his son's safety, so he slept with Dou Yu in his arms that night.

Dou Yu could always smell the smell of urine and couldn't fall asleep. He opened his eyes wide and observed the dark room, thinking about the saint's scarred face. Suddenly, there was a hurried knock on the door.

Dou Yu quickly closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep, but Dou Wenyang quickly woke up, opened the door, and asked nervously, "What's the matter?"

"The foreign ministers contacted the prince and filed a complaint before His Majesty."

"what?!"

Dou Wenyang screamed, and without even bothering to put on his clothes, he rushed to meet the emperor.

Rushing out the door, he remembered something and ordered someone to call Zhou Zhiguang over.

Zhou Zhiguang was an ambitious man. When he was young, he practiced archery diligently and thought about serving the country. However, he was arrogant and always offended his superiors after joining the army. It was difficult for him to be promoted even though he made contributions. Gradually, he changed his mind and thought that the most important thing was to climb up and gain power. So he began to curry favor with eunuchs and finally relied on Dou Wenyang, a big backer.

In addition to killing people and plundering money, and giving Dou Wenyang a lot of tribute, Zhou Zhiguang also obeyed Dou Wenyang's orders and did a lot of dirty things for him, which was considered an extremely useful sharp blade.

"Dou Gong."

"Those damned foreign ministers are causing trouble for me again." Dou Wenyang ordered, "Scare them for me. If the Saint summons you, don't let them say bad things about me."

"Here."

Zhou Zhiguang agreed without hesitation.

He went out of the city overnight and saw that more officials and soldiers had gathered in the camp at the city gate.

Seeing the city gate finally open and people coming out of the city, the officials who had been waiting for an audience with the emperor all night rushed forward and started shouting.

"We have important national affairs to report to the Saint. How dare you, the treacherous eunuch, stop us? Can you afford to delay state affairs?!"

Some people almost pointed their fingers at Zhou Zhiguang's face.

Zhou Zhiguang did not avoid it either, and even opened and closed his nose, and even made a small gesture of sniffing the other person's fingers, and then asked: "Who are you?"

"Zhang Lin, the Chief Censor."

At this time, Chen Xilie, Wei Jiansu and others thought that they were summoned by the saint, and were rushing out of the tent, just in time to see the next scene in the firelight.

Zhou Zhiguang suddenly grabbed the finger that Zhang Lin was pointing at him, and broke it with his hand.

"Ah!" Zhang Lin screamed and shouted angrily, "What are you doing?!"

If we say that up to this point, it was just a rude general who fought back against a courtier for being rude to him, it was barely reasonable. But what happened afterwards was completely beyond everyone's imagination.

With a "bang", Zhou Zhiguang pulled out his knife and chopped down directly, chopping Zhang Lin's arm off to the ground.

He didn't say much, and only used this action to answer Zhang Lin's question of what he was doing.

Blood gushed out wildly, Zhang Lin was in great pain and terror, and he staggered away holding his broken arm.

Zhou Zhiguang did not give up. In front of all the important officials in the court, he chased after Zhang Lin with a knife in hand and stabbed Zhang Lin many times, knocking him to the ground.

"Don't kill me, don't kill me."

Zhang Lin didn't know why this happened, and without caring about the etiquette of a senior official, he kept begging for mercy.

Zhou Zhiguang said: "Not only will I kill you, I will also kill your entire family."

Everyone was shocked. They didn't know where such a crazy and cruel person came from, who wanted to kill an entire family for no reason.

"puff."

Before they could react, Zhou Zhiguang had already cut off Zhang Lin's head.

Chen Xilie, Wei Jiansu and others were stunned, watching the blood spurt all over Zhou Zhiguang's face. They wanted to order the soldiers they brought to go forward and capture the thug, but they were worried that it would cause an uncontrollable conflict.

"If anyone dares to say a bad word about Dou Gong, I will bury his entire family alive." Zhou Zhiguang said this harshly, glanced at everyone with a fierce look, turned around and walked away as if he was in an empty place.

Chen Xilie opened and closed his lips slightly, but he had nothing to say.

If you live long enough, you will see everything. On this night, the affairs of the imperial court were no different from the vendettas and struggles in the streets.

"Ugh."

Chen Xilie sighed and murmured, "What a foul smell, what a foul smell."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Wei Jiansu turning around and walking towards the stables. He quickly caught up with him and stopped him, asking, "Where are you going?"

"Meeting an opponent as unbearable as Dou Wenyang, I have no intention of competing with him. Otherwise, it would be self-degrading."

"Then you are going to abandon the saint?"

Wei Jiansu said: "I will go back to Chang'an."

Chen Xilie's eyes flickered, and he immediately thought that the saint fled in too hurry and forgot the emperor in Chang'an.

But what's the point of hanging around among these weak rulers? It's better to choose a true wise ruler.

~~
"How can Your Majesty trust those foreign ministers with ulterior motives, but not trust me, your servant?"

Dou Wenyang arrived just in time, and fell to his knees before Li Cong, weeping bitterly, saying, "They said that the defeat of Dengzhou was due to me, and that the rebels of Prince Yong entered Shangzhou. I took Your Majesty and fled out of selfishness. The wicked are the first to accuse. Although I have no evidence... I'm afraid Cui Yuan's defeat was instigated by the retired emperor!"

"What did you say?"

This earth-shattering statement left Li Cong stunned again.

He received so much news tonight that it was beyond belief.

Dou Wenyang was still crying and said, "I suspect that Chen Xilie, Wei Jiansu and others want to welcome Prince Yong to Beijing!"

Having said this, Li Cong's previous anger towards Dou Wenyang disappeared.

……

Li Qu had been waiting outside for a long time, and finally waited until Li Cong and Dou Wenyang finished their conversation.

Strangely, when Dou Wenyang left, he did not show any panic about being deposed, but instead walked out at a quick pace.

"Father." Li Qu entered and bowed. "Should we summon all the ministers now to discuss how to quell the rebellion?"

"No hurry. I have already ordered Dou Wenyang to be the military inspector and Zhou Zhiguang to be the governor of Guannei to fight against Li Lin." Li Cong said, "We can discuss other matters after we defeat Li Lin."

Li Qu was greatly shocked and thought he had heard wrongly.

"How can Father do this?"

He came to his senses and was extremely excited. He shouted, "How can the emperor still trust the eunuchs at this critical moment?!"

Li Cong was in a bad mood and was reluctant to speak at first. But after hearing his favorite son yelling non-stop, he finally couldn't help but slammed the table and scolded, "Shut up!"

"If I shut up, who can persuade my father? That treacherous eunuch is a man without talent or virtue. Why does my father insist on using him? Has he lost his mind?!"

"Who else can I use? Who else is willing to truly submit to me?!"

Li Cong also got angry and slapped Li Qu in the face.

With a "click", the room fell silent.

Li Cong suddenly thought of the time when he took Li Qiu to Mount Zhongnan many years ago. He held Li Qiu in his arms and pointed out the things he saw along the way. His well-behaved son at that time now looked down on him.

He was filled with sorrow, pointed at himself and said, "Look at my face. From the beginning, no one thought I was qualified to rule the world."

Li Qu was so frightened that he dared not speak, and tears kept welling up in his eyes.

"No one obeys me, because I was not qualified to succeed to the throne in the first place, because I..."

Li Cong swallowed hard and swallowed the following words "no offspring".

The topic eventually touched upon the most sensitive and least-reluctant-to-mention thing between them; after all, Li Qu was not his biological son.

Li Qian, like Li Qu, is the legitimate son of Crown Prince Ying. Li Qian is a little older and seems more qualified to inherit the throne.

What is he then? A transition.

The feeling of helplessness and frustration surrounded Li Cong like a whirlpool, and he actually burst into tears in front of his son.

"Who else can I use? If I use a royal family member, he has evil intentions and intends to usurp the throne; if I use military generals, they have their own troops and ignore the orders of the court; if I use civil officials, they have their own thoughts and only know how to pursue their own interests. If I don't use eunuchs to restrain them, what else can I do? If I dismiss Dou Wenyang today, and hand over the lives of you and my son, and the foundation of our ancestors to the hands of Chen Xilie and Wei Jiansu, can I feel at ease?"

Li Qu was about to answer, but Li Cong said something that touched the pain in his heart.

"Do you think your grandfather, the retired emperor, likes you, or prefers Li Chu and Li Lin?"

"This……"

When Li Qu thought of Li Longji, he finally felt the loneliness and despair of Li Cong.

From childhood to adulthood, he had never received the slightest care from Li Longji. Considering that Wei Jiansu might have received instructions from the retired emperor, he finally shuddered.

When the Emperor has no power, everything is sad.

Li Cong encountered a great change, and his mood was naturally extremely depressed.

But two days later, he heard Dou Wenyang report a strange news.

"Prince Yong sent a fast horse to report that he had led the Jianghuai troops to attack Jiangling."

"Him? How could this be?"

Dou Wenyang then submitted a memorial, detailing the details of Xue Bai's trip to Yangzhou.

After hearing this, Li Cong was distracted for a long time and gradually could not tell whether Xue Bai was loyal or treacherous.

"Your Majesty." Dou Wenyang reminded with an embarrassed look on his face: "Your Majesty may have no choice but to appoint Prince Yong as the governor of Jianghuai to fight Prince Yong. The matter is a foregone conclusion, and it cannot be changed whether the court approves it or not. At least, Prince Yong is willing to submit a memorial to request Your Majesty's appointment."

This was something that could not be helped, but this time when Li Cong heard it, he actually felt that compared to many people around him, Xue Bai was already quite respectful.

On second thought, apart from not raising her, how much worse is Li Qian than Li Qiu? Anyway, they are not her biological children, so who can say for sure whether Li Qiu will be filial in the future?
He suddenly found that all emotions were so fragile and fragile...

(End of this chapter)