Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 577 Palace Change
A mouth was already opened, the sparse beard around it was trembling, and a red pill rolled into the mouth and was swallowed with water.

"Gulu."

Li Cong sighed comfortably.

Regardless of whether the pill was effective or not, he was at least emotionally satisfied. There was excitement in his eyes and the scars on his face appeared slightly flushed.

"Father." Li Qu was delighted to see that he seemed to be getting better, and said, "There is one thing we want to tell you."

Li Cong didn't say a word, as if he was in a strange state, as if he saw himself recovering from his illness, becoming immortal, and even becoming an immortal. This filled him with joy and longing, and he felt dizzy and confused.

Good emotions gave him vitality and made him look much healthier.

"Brother, do you want to tell me?" Li Qu said.

"Okay." Li Yan said, "A few days ago, I met Li Tan."

"Li Tan? Who?" Li Cong asked.

"The grandson of Li Xun, the Duke of Qinghe, the eldest son-in-law of my uncle, and the brother-in-law of Prince Zhong."

Li Cong's wife, Dou, was the niece of Li Longji's biological mother, Consort Dou De, and Zhang Quyi was Li Longji's cousin. Therefore, Li Yan called Zhang Quyi his uncle.

"Him? Li Heng's man." Li Cong remembered.

Li Yan said, "I have always wanted to come to the palace to see my father, but I was worried that Sanlang would not agree. It was Li Tan who told me that Sanlang wanted to show that the brothers were in harmony and would not refuse."

Li Cong said, "So it was Li Tan who let you into the palace."

"After Sanlang went to fight Qin and Long, Li Tan came to see me again and said... they wanted to get rid of Sanlang and let father rule the country."

Unexpectedly, Li Cong did not show any excitement, but had no reaction.

It was too late to support him to rule the country now. When he tried to do this before, the nobles did not respond at all and only cared about sex. It was ridiculous that when Xue Bai was about to take the throne, they united one by one. It was ridiculous.

But those people were also wrong. He was not dead yet and would live for a long, long time, beyond everyone's expectations.

"Do not."

Li Cong said: "I am the emperor and my son is the crown prince. Why should I support their coup? I just need to survive to win."

He seemed to have found the secret to victory. If he eliminated his previous stupidity and cowardice, as long as he could live forever, he could even defeat Xue Bai.

Thinking of this, Li Cong felt as if a wave surged in his mind, making him tremble with joy.

"I didn't intend to coup the emperor. I entered the palace only to serve my father." Li Yan had no idea and said, "I didn't expect that Sanlang would leave the capital, and Li Tan and his men would win over many people. They are about to ask the emperor to leave. I don't know what to do..."

"puff!"

Suddenly, Li Cong spat out a mouthful of blood, which directly sprayed Li Yan's face.

Li Yan had only said half of his words with his mouth still open when he tasted the warm, salty taste of blood. The scene in front of him instantly turned red, and he was so scared that his whole body froze there.

The face covered with scars in front of him suddenly became extremely hideous, as if the elixir that Li Cong ate would not make him immortal, but turn him into an evil ghost.

Li Qu also had half of his face splattered with blood. He watched helplessly as Li Cong's eyes dimmed little by little and his body slowly fell backwards.

"Father?"

The two brothers called out softly, then walked forward and pushed Li Cong, but there was no response, only his dead fish-like eyes were still open.

Li Qu was frightened and put his hand under his nose to feel, but he didn't feel any breath.

"drive……"

"Died."

"How could it be?" Li Yan couldn't believe it, desperately pushing Li Cong's body, "It's not the first time he's taken the elixir, at most he'll become irritable and have a headache, how could he die immediately?"

"His body can't handle the strong medicine."

"Yes, that's right. No one knows that he took the pill, right?"

"No." Li Qu burped, "It has nothing to do with the elixir. We all know that my father was about to die. He was about to die."

The two brothers comforted each other for a while and decided to kill the Taoist priest originally worshipped by Prince Qing's Mansion just in case.

"What should we do now?"

"Contact Li Tan?"

"But my father disagrees."

"What can we do? Sanlang is not in the capital."

"Well, let's keep it a secret for now, and then go talk to Li Tan and Du Youlin to see who can give us more."

"it is good."

Li Qu's mind was very confused. He had originally given up the throne, but now he thought that if Xue Bai was dead, he still had a chance.

He is one of the few people who can still balance the forces of both sides.

However, before he could take any action, he was stumped by the first problem.

"What about the blood?"

"wipe it up."

"I can't wipe it off...what should I do?"

In the end, the two brothers were unable to wipe the blood off their faces, and they tiptoed out of the hall.

The palace servants guarding outside the palace kept their heads down and didn't look at them, which made them think they could keep it a secret.

"King of Chu? King of Zheng?"

Suddenly, an eunuch called them and they trembled, not knowing what to do.

"This is?"

"The medicine soup, the medicine soup was spilled." Li Qu said, "My father is sleeping peacefully, please don't go in and disturb him, we can clean it up later."

"This servant deserves death." The eunuch stepped forward and reminded quietly, "If there is any accident, you should go see the queen."

"Correct."

Li Qu suddenly realized what was going on and said quickly, "Take us to see the Queen Mother."

In the current trend, some women in the Tang court harem are scheming and like to participate in political affairs. But Li Cong's first wife Dou was different. She was under surveillance in the Ten Kings' House in her early years. She had no biological children and no experience in fighting for power. When Li Cong ascended the throne, she was already a white-haired old woman. Therefore, she rarely got involved in government affairs and had a low sense of presence.

But now it is different. After Li Cong's death, the person with the most say in the Daming Palace is precisely the Empress Dou who is always ignored.

"Where is the Queen Mother?"

"Please change your clothes, my Lords, and follow me to the Xianju Palace."

"it is good."

The eunuch took them to change into eunuch clothes, washed their faces, and went all the way to the Xianju Palace.

The palace was very quiet, and a maid whispered, "The queen is in the quiet room."

It was called a quiet room, but it was actually a Buddhist temple. Dou was a Buddhist and was kneeling in front of a small Buddha statue, chanting and praying for Li Cong. When she heard the noise, she turned around and saw her two adopted sons dressed like this rushing over. She immediately knew what had happened and two lines of tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Mother."

"Could it be, a saint?"

Li Yan and Li Qu burst into tears and nodded with tears in their eyes.

Dou was also very sad.

After a while, Li Qu whispered, "Mother, Li Tan told my brother that Prince Zhong and his people plotted to get rid of the crown prince. Perhaps we should call the prime minister to discuss this."

Hearing this, Li Yan was startled and said, "That's not what you just said."

"I was terrified just now. Now that I think about it, why should we help them? With the support of my mother, I can take Sanlang's place."

"Clap clap clap."

Suddenly, there was a sound of applause from the side, and a woman said leisurely: "You have thought of this, you are not stupid."

Li Qu looked over and recognized her, Zhang Si.

"You, why are you here?"

"I'm here to visit my cousin." Zhang Si smiled. "Is that not okay?"

The Dou family and the Zhang family have always been intermarried, all based on the kindness of Lady Dou Shu of Yan State in raising Li Longji. They have enjoyed wealth and glory for generations and are also related to each other.

Li Qu's face turned pale, and he asked, "Are you not afraid of Sanlang?"

"He's not in Chang'an anymore, what's there to be afraid of?" Zhang Si said, "But you, who don't have much ability, actually want to sit back and enjoy the fruits of others' labor?"

She likes gambling and has a bad temper. She leaned over to Li Qu's ear and said, "You didn't have the ability to defend the position, and now we're taking it back. Do you still want to take it from us?"

"I do not have."

Zhang Si ignored her, turned around and patted Li Yan's face again, saying: "My husband told you to report to him if you have any news, right? Why are you so disobedient?"

"I just...didn't find him." Li Yan replied in a low voice.

The two brothers knew that Zhang Si's presence here meant that they were able to enter and exit the palace gate. They only needed to ask the emperor to preside over the situation and announce Li Cong's death. The overall situation was settled and it was not their turn to make any tricks.

Zhang Si smiled confidently, helped Dou up, and said, "Cousin, let's go now."

"it is good."

Dou recited another sutra in a low voice and stood up.

"Mother." Li Qu was unwilling to accept it and asked, "Why? Why don't you help your own son, but help outsiders?"

Dou asked slowly: "Who is the outsider?"

Li Qu thought to himself that it must be Li Heng.

But Dou did not stay and followed Zhang Si to Hanliang Palace.

~~
Anxingfang.

The sound of dense footsteps continued, and people delivering intelligence came in and out.

"Madam, our people have entered the Taiji Palace. Please bring out the Emperor!"

Zhang Ting was surprised when she heard this and asked, "So fast? Didn't you encounter any obstacles?"

"Yes, but the defense of Taiji Palace was not as strict as we imagined. When the troops arrived, the guards at the palace gate gave way when they saw that we were outnumbered."

"No." Zhang Ting said, "Are there only a few people guarding the emperor? Where is the prison?"

"Fan Lao is still in the Imperial Garden." Wu Xi said, "He has just taken over and has not yet recognized the commanders of the Imperial Guards. How many people can he mobilize?"

"It's going too smoothly. The defense of Taiji Palace would never be so loose." Zhang Ting frowned, feeling worried instead of happy.

"I have also noticed that the two palaces seem to have lost a lot of their troops."

Zhang Ting said: "It was Xue Ni. He secretly mobilized a group of imperial guards in order to... to get rid of Tian Shengong!"

"what?"

"Our plan to get rid of him has failed." Zhang Ting was shocked and said, "It is indeed the 'fake tour of Yunmeng' plan. Hurry, it won't be long before he returns to Chang'an!"

All the plans went surprisingly smoothly, and Wu Xi was in ecstasy, but he was also shocked at this time. However, Zhang Ting had fought with Xue Bai many times and obviously knew Xue Bai better.

"How to do?"

"Enter the palace." Zhang Ting said, "Where is Li Heng? Take me to see him."

"It's still in the Ten Kings' Residence. Someone is guarding it."

"Fight in!"

……

Li Chu had already arrived in front of the Tenth King's residence and was confronting the guards, trying to persuade them to defect.

Li Chu was a person who was very good at winning people's hearts. Except for Xue Bai, he rarely failed in winning people's hearts in his life.

In fact, he had already persuaded the guards who were watching over him to help him. But when Xue Bai destroyed Buddhism last time, although he tried to do something, he did not play his trump card at all, but used this incident to let Zhang Ting regain his freedom.

The two originally hostile people joined forces and finally made the impossible possible.

Now, Li Chu was very confident that he could subdue the guards who were guarding Li Heng.

"Don't do anything. I'm here on the orders of the Emperor to bring Grandpa into the palace to see the Saint for the last time."

"Prince Yu, you once led a rebellion. How can we trust you?"

Li Chu said: "Right now, Tubo is eyeing us covetously, the Crown Prince is not in Chang'an, and the Saint is seriously ill. What are you doing? Put down your weapons, and I will reward you handsomely..."

Suddenly, footsteps came hurriedly.

"Kill them."

Following this shout, a group of people who had rushed over raised their swords without hesitation and chopped at the guards who were surrounding them.

"Everyone stop it."

Li Chu was so surprised that he took a few steps back. However, he changed his mind after a moment, and ordered the people he brought with him, "Kill anyone who dares to stop me from taking my grandfather away. Leave no one alive." His face was very ugly. He walked towards Zhang Ting who had come running and said, "What are you doing? Killing people now, what if it angers the court officials..."

"Don't you think it's going too smoothly? Don't be paralyzed by the situation. Xue Bai may come back at any time. We don't have time for you to pretend to be kind and righteous."

Zhang Ting said coldly, seeing that the fighting outside the door had ended.

She raised her foot, stepped over the pool of blood, went inside, and saw Li Heng who was watching from the corridor.

Li Heng looked increasingly older, with white hair, a hunched back, and the way he looked around made him look like a thief.

When he saw Zhang Ting, he was stunned. In an instant, his eyes were filled with various emotions, including hatred and anger. He thought that this woman had betrayed him, and when he returned to the throne, he would make her regret it and pay the price.

But before she came closer, the hatred in his eyes flashed away and turned into endless joy and love.

"Mrs. Ting!"

Li Heng called out affectionately, rushed forward and held Zhang Ting's hands.

"How could you leave me so heartlessly? Do you know how sad I was after you left? I don't want to be divorced from you."

Zhang Ting showed no impatience, her eyes instantly turned red, and she said, "Don't you know? I was acting for those people. I just wanted to take back everything you lost. You don't know how much pain I felt at that time."

Li Heng hugged her in his arms and said, "No, you are everything to me. If I lose you, I will not care about the Tang Dynasty at all!"

"No matter how you misunderstand me, I can do anything for you..."

Li Chu entered the palace and felt like vomiting after hearing all this. He stepped forward and said, "Master, please enter the palace."

"Yes, quickly." Zhang Ting said, "We have to settle the overall situation before Xue Ni returns to the palace."

~~
The dagger was polished to a shine, reflecting Tian Shengong's face.

His face had changed a lot compared to a few years ago. There were more scars and more fat on his face. He had unknowingly acquired a ferocious aura.

After staring at it for a while, he put the dagger into his sleeve and stood up.

"Let's do it tonight. When His Highness comes over, I'll smash the cup as a signal."

"I understand." Tian Shenyu responded.

"I'll check again."

Tian Shengong walked out of the tent. Outside, his personal soldiers were neatly lined up in two teams, and there were more people lying in ambush in the surrounding tents.

Everything was prepared so well that there was no reason for anything to go wrong.

But for some reason, Tian Shengong still felt very uneasy.

He thought about it and thought that this uneasiness came from his betrayal of Xue Bai. So he told himself in his heart that he didn't owe Xue Bai anything. If he hadn't helped Xue Bai kill someone, Xue Bai would have died at the hands of Li Linfu.

As for the expedition against Nanzhao, it was also the brothers who went through life and death together, but in the end, all the credit was attributed to Xue Bai.

Because of these thoughts, the uneasiness in his heart subsided a lot, and he returned to the tent and sat down, waiting.

"Brother." Tian Shenyu spoke again.

"Don't ask." Tian Shengong said, "If we don't kill him, he will kill us sooner or later."

"I want to ask, is Li Mi going to be killed too?"

"Of course he had to be killed."

"But isn't he very close to Prince Zhong? He is also the one who dispatches our military supplies."

Tian Shengong pondered and said, "He is closer to Li Chu, but we don't want to support Li Chu. That man is very sinister. If we help him, we might as well help His Highness."

Tian Shenyu sighed: "It's really troublesome."

"The power dynamic is very complicated. You won't understand it. Just follow my instructions."

"it is good."

The two brothers remained silent and waited for a long time. Finally, a soldier came and reported, "His Highness has arrived."

"How many people did you bring?"

"More than ten people."

"That's good." Tian Shengong said.

It has been two or three days since he left Chang'an. Before this, he had never found an opportunity to get rid of Xue Bai because he was always surrounded by hundreds of elite soldiers.

Today, Xue Bai took the initiative to tell him, "I heard from Yuan Zai that your barbecue is delicious, but I haven't tasted it yet."

"I am a hunter, so after we set up camp, I will go hunt some game and roast it for Your Highness."

"Well, it's been a long time since you and I have had a heart-to-heart talk."

Tian Shen Gongeng realized from this conversation that Xue Bai wanted to give him another chance to reflect on himself.

It is very likely that he wanted to use this night's "heart-to-heart talk" to discuss his incidents of burning, killing and looting on the border.

He had been living in fear before, but now he could finally get Xue Bai's forgiveness. Unfortunately, he was no longer interested in this.

"Let's go and welcome His Highness."

Tian Shengong walked out of the tent without armor and looked into the distance, but did not see Xue Bai.

He then continued to walk outside the camp, but the soldiers stopped him and said, "General, your highness has gone over there."

Tian Shengong was stunned and turned around, only to see that the soldier was pointing at the barracks where his soldiers lived.

He and Tian Shenyu looked at each other, and there was a flash of uneasiness in the depths of both of their eyes.

In the current situation, should we call out all the swordsmen and axemen, surround the camp directly, and kill His Highness?

In the end, Tian Shengong did not dare to make such a decision, but rushed to the camp to meet Xue Bai.

It was time for the second meal. The soldiers had just set up camp and were squatting on the ground to eat.

When Tian Shengong found Xue Bai, he was surprised to find that Xue Bai was sitting on the ground, surrounded by many soldiers, and there were probably hundreds of people around him.

"Your Highness actually still remembers me?!"

"When we were fighting against Nanzhao, you were under Tian Shenyu's command. I remember you cried."

"Hehe, I won't cry now..."

Tian Shengong walked inside and could hear conversations all the way.

Not all the soldiers in his army were from Jiannan. Many of them were newly recruited after he arrived in Guanzhong. Xue Bai could chat with them about Tubo, military supplies, the lives of these soldiers before they joined the army, and the trivial matters in the village.

There were complaints against him, too.

"I ate much better this time in Chang'an. I ate quite a bit in Jiannan, but General Tian treated his personal soldiers much better."

"What kind of preferential treatment is this?"

"Your Highness." Tian Shengong finally arrived in front of Xue Bai.

"I'm here." Xue Bai said, "I'm chatting with your soldiers. They're all good soldiers."

"They are all soldiers from the Tang Dynasty, your Highness's soldiers." Tian Shengong said.

"well said."

"Your Highness, I have prepared the barbecue. Please move to the main tent."

Up to this point, the atmosphere was very good, like a military commander coming to inspect, the scene was serious yet lively.

But at this moment, Xue Baiyun asked calmly.

"Will you go to your tent and let the swordsmen you have arranged kill me?"

The respectful smile on Tian Shengong's face froze.

He thought he was hallucinating.

After enduring too much psychological pressure, thinking about this and that every day, and suffering from betrayal, I finally went crazy and realized that I had heard it wrong.

"What did your Highness say?"

Xue Bai said: "Isn't it? You violated military law, and after being exposed, you planned to collude with the rebels to kill me."

Not an auditory hallucination.

Tian Shengong was stunned.

The last time he was so overwhelmed in his entire life was when he was six years old and stole a piece of bacon that his family had prepared for the New Year. He was caught lying by his mother, and God knows how panicked he was at that time.

But that time he was only severely beaten, but this time it was fatal.

Because he was too panicked, the surrounding scenes became blurred and Tian Shengong could only feel the terrifying aura from Xue Bai.

He took a deep breath and told himself to calm down, things were not the worst yet.

"Your Highness has misunderstood. I have never done that..."

Halfway through his sophistry, Tian Shengong finally met Xue Bai's eyes. His eyes were clear yet sharp, and it was obvious that he had seen through everything.

There's no point hiding it any longer. It can't be concealed anymore.

The kindness of the past is no longer there, it's just a life-and-death struggle.

"kill him!"

Tian Shengong suddenly shouted, signaling Tian Shenyu and his trusted generals to take action.

After all, this is still his camp, and there are more of his soldiers around.

However, everyone seemed to have not reacted yet, they were all in a daze, and didn't even know who Tian Shengong was going to kill.

"Kill the prince! I will give you great wealth!"

Tian Shengong shouted again, drew out his dagger, and rushed towards Xue Bai.

In his impression, Xue Bai was still the weak and frail boy in the fifth year of Tianbao, who could not dodge his agile and fierce sword at all.

Xue Bai did not hide, but just stood there, raised his hand, pointed at Tian Shengong, and said calmly and forcefully: "Catch him!"

"Kill the prince!"

Tian Shengong was still rushing forward, but someone tripped him and threw him to the ground.

Although he was highly skilled in martial arts, he was unable to display his skills among so many people.

He fell to the ground with a bang. In the dust he saw pairs of military boots. He shouted, "What are you doing? You are my soldiers. Kill the prince and I will reward you with a title of Marquis!"

Xue Bai is not a prince who has been trapped in the deep palace all his life and has no prestige. He has fought in many battles from Nanzhao to Yanjing. The soldiers around him are not only Tian Shengong's soldiers, but also his soldiers.

As for rewards, how could a military commander be rewarded with a title of Marquis of Ten Thousand Households? How could he be rewarded more than a crown prince who was about to ascend the throne?

Before Tian Shengong could shout again, soldiers rushed over and pinned him down.

Tian Shengong struggled hard, his face flushed red, and he couldn't bear to escape, so he looked at Tian Shenyu.

"Shenyu! Do it!"

Tian Shenyu had been in a daze, and finally reacted at this moment. He snatched a crossbow from the hand of his personal soldier behind him and looked at Xue Bai.

When their eyes met, he felt as if he was burned. He quickly avoided Xue Bai's gaze and raised his crossbow.

At this time, Diao Bing had already rushed behind Tian Shenyu and raised his knife to chop him.

"despair."

With a sound, the crossbow fell to the ground.

Tian Shenyu then knelt on the ground, kowtowed heavily, and said: "Your Highness! I was wrong, I am the mastermind!"

While he was apologizing, Diao Bing had already brought his men to pin him to the ground and tied him up tightly.

"Your Highness, we have been bewitched by Zhang. She wants to help Li Heng ascend the throne and ruin your great cause..."

~~
At some point, Li Mi walked behind Xue Bai.

"I will live up to your highness' trust."

The reason why Li Mi was used was because Xue Bai was sure that Li Mi would not help Zhang Ting.

Previously, Li Mi assisted Li Heng and witnessed Zhang Ting killing Li Tan, which indirectly led to Li Heng's defeat and his capture. The worse impact was that it shook the country.

Therefore, in the past two days, it was Li Mi who appeased the soldiers in the army by allocating money and food to help Xue Bai.

"I'll leave this to you." Xue Bai said.

"Your Highness, can't you bear it?"

"No, I'm going back to Beijing."

Li Mi asked, "Then I will lead the army back to Chang'an?"

"No need, you continue to head west." Xue Bai said, "I'll be back soon after I do something."

(End of this chapter)