Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 579 Everyone has their own plans
"How could I have such a foolish son like you? You mobilized troops without authorization. Do you intend to disobey me?!"

After the angry shout, everyone in the hall fell silent, and only the heavy breathing of the father and son after their quarrel could be heard.

Li Longji originally thought that this sentence could calm Li Heng.

However, Li Heng was not convinced and said, "The foundation of our ancestors was almost destroyed by our father, and now you are still insisting on having your own way. Are you not willing to let the country fall into the hands of outsiders because of your selfishness?!"

He was not stupid, nor was he unaware that rashly launching an army would give Xue Bai an excuse to attack him. Instead, he deliberately let Li Chu hold the military power. More importantly, he wanted to intensify the conflict and make Li Longji and Xue Bai confront each other head-on.

"Your Highness, I ask your father to issue an edict."

"That's enough." Li Longji said, "Do you think I don't know what you are thinking?"

Feeling a hint of murderous intent, Li Heng's heart trembled. He pretended to be respectful and bowed, saying, "I'll take my leave."

It was meaningless to say anything more. Since Li Longji did not intend to declare Xue Bai guilty in the name of the emperor, it was equivalent to Li Heng's strategy of inciting the two tigers to fight each other. He could only resort to force, first get rid of Xue Bai, and then force Li Longji to pass on the throne.

That was the end of their concerted efforts.

Looking at Li Heng's back, Li Longji said to himself: "This idiot gave Li Qian an excuse to raise an army."

He called Gao Lishi over and said, "You go and appease Li Qian yourself... No, wait a minute, let these two of my grandsons have another chance to compete with each other."

He changed his mind halfway through giving orders.

It would be best if the two powerful grandsons died, so that no one could interfere with his ability to regain control of the government.

"Tell Zhang Ting that if Li Chu wins, I want to make Li Qi the crown prince."

This sentence sounds contradictory at first. Why would Li Qi be enthroned if Li Chu won? Of course, Zhang Ting wanted to get rid of Li Chu and Li Heng.

Li Longji said again: "Call Du Youlin to see me again."

"Here."

"Have you found Li Zuo?"

"Prince Ying and Prince Qi have already gone to the Forbidden Garden in person."

~~
Prince Ying Li Lu was the thirteenth son of Li Longji, and he was also the one who reported to Li Longji that Li Ying had borrowed two thousand sets of armor from him.

Li Yu was nearly 40 years old at the time, with elegant manners and good writing skills. During the more than one year that Xue Bai was the regent, he cut off all his fiefdoms and salaries, and he lived a very difficult life. However, due to etiquette, Xue Bai did not kill him after all, and he still retained his royal title, which was considered a kind of grace.

He was not grateful, but was fed up with the days of constant worry. He felt that since Xue Bai was Li Ying's son, he would be killed sooner or later.

Therefore, he was the most active person in supporting Li Longji's restoration. Li Longji asked him to go to the Forbidden Garden to appease Fanlao, perhaps out of trust.

The Forbidden Garden is located to the north of Chang'an, and its area is no smaller than the entire Chang'an city. Li Lu went all the way north, exited the Xuanwu Gate to the north of the Daming Palace, passed through Jiacheng, and exited the Chongxuan Gate, and the Forbidden Garden was in front of him.

Both city gates were under their control.

The imperial guards were stationed in the Forbidden Garden. Fan Lao, the general of the Left Divine Army appointed by Xue Bai before he left the capital, had been recruiting soldiers in the camp and did not even participate in the palace coup. This was now a laughing stock among the nobles in Chang'an.

"Prince Ying Li Yu and Prince Siqi Li Zhen, under the order of the Supreme Emperor, have come to confer titles and awards to the generals!"

When they arrived in front of the military camp, they ordered someone to go forward and pass on the message.

After a while, the camp gate opened, and a burly, rough-looking general stepped out to greet them. He looked them up and down without saluting or speaking.

Judging from his rude and disrespectful appearance, he must be the smuggled iron dealer Fan Lao.

Li Zhen sat astride his horse and did not dismount. He did not want to speak to Fan Lao first, so he whispered to Li Yu, "Why is this man staring at us?"

"We are just country folk, so don't bother with him. Just announce the decree," said Li Lu.

Li Zhen then used his chin to signal the accompanying officials behind him to reward Fan Lao and the generals of the imperial guards.

In fact, the Imperial Guards had always been under the jurisdiction of Li Longji through trusted generals like Chen Xuanli. It was only in the years after Li Longji fled to Shu that they fell into Xue Bai's hands. There were still many generals who were loyal to Li Longji, which was why he was able to quickly control the Daming Palace.

The purpose of bestowing rewards now is of course to shake the morale of the imperial guards. As for what Fan Lao thinks, it doesn't really matter. As long as the order reaches the ears of each general, it will be enough.

Sure enough, all the generals accepted the order and showed no hostility.

Fan Lao asked loudly, "So, the reason why the Emperor Retired took the throne and became the Emperor is because the Sage died suddenly and the Crown Prince is not in Chang'an. The throne will still be passed on to the Crown Prince in the future?!"

Li Zhen and Li Lu looked at each other, and Li Lu nodded, meaning that he could admit this point. Anyway, Li Heng and Li Chu, father and son, would get rid of Xue Bai.

"That's right!" Li Zhen said, "The Supreme Emperor and the Crown Prince are of the same mind, so you don't have to worry!"

After hearing this, Fan Lao said to the generals behind him, "Did you hear that? The emperor did not depose the crown prince. He is still the legitimate heir to the throne of the Tang Dynasty."

Li Lu sneered in his heart and looked deeper into the camp, where he found some palace servants moving around, including a palace maid holding a copper basin and walking around with water.

Sure enough, Xue Bai settled his family here.

Now we need to coax Fan Lao into surrendering, control the soldiers, and capture Xue Bai's family. Then, when Xue Bai and Li Chu are both defeated, the emperor can punish whoever he wants.

Suddenly, a soldier asked loudly: "Since His Highness is still the crown prince, why doesn't Prince Zhong let him enter the city?!"

"What are you talking about?" Li Zhen immediately scolded.

"I just don't understand why Prince Zhong sent troops to kill Your Highness?!"

Li Zhen was surprised and asked, "When did he do this?"

This is the Forbidden Garden, and Xue Bai is still at the Jinguang Gate in the west of the city. They are so far away that even Li Zhen and Li Lu don't know what happened in the west of the city. After all, when they set out, Li Chu had just sent out his troops.

Li Yu anticipated that the matter was not simple, and frowned and asked, "What is going on?"

"Your Highness!"

Fan Lao suddenly turned around and shouted to a military tent: "Your Highness, did you hear that? The Emperor has cleared your name. You are innocent!"

With a "whoosh" sound, the curtain of the military tent was torn open, and Xue Bai was sitting inside. He was shirtless and was bandaging something. The bandages on his body were covered in blood.

Li Zhen and Li Yu were stunned when they saw this. They thought to themselves, Xue Bai had just arrived in Xicheng, how could he be here? Who could hurt him so quickly?

Xue Bai stood up and walked towards them, saying word by word: "You came at the right time. Tell me, how did the saint die?!"

"You...what do you mean?"

Li Zhen was confused.

The struggle for power is a very complicated matter. There are subtle changes in enemies and friends every moment. Li Zhen is obviously unable to adapt.

Instead, it was Li Yu who understood first, knowing that it was impossible for them to subdue Xue Bai's power through appeasement. Xue Bai had already made arrangements, and now he wanted to frame them for regicide so that he could start to clean them up.

"kill him!"

Seeing Xue Bai walking towards them without armor, Li Lu thought this might be the last chance to kill Xue Bai, so he made up his mind immediately.

His reaction was quick. While shouting, he turned around and snatched the bow and arrow from the soldiers behind him, then drew the bow and shot at Xue Bai.

Unfortunately, this action took some time.

"They rebelled, kill them!"

"Swish swish."

The archers behind Fan Lao were well prepared. They had put the arrows on the bowstrings at some point in time, and they released the arrows as soon as the command was given.

A hail of arrows knocked down the guard in front of Li Zhen, and Li Zhen screamed and fell off his horse.

Upon seeing this, Li Lu turned his horse and fled.

"Li Qian is rebelling, let's go!"

"help me!"

Li Zhen was still shouting, but unfortunately, people and horses were neighing behind him, and the people he led had already fled in panic.

He crawled a few steps, and seeing that he could not escape, he had no choice but to sit on the ground, staring at Xue Bai with wide eyes, and shouted: "Li Qian! What do you mean? The emperor has not abolished your position as crown prince!"

After he said this, the guards around him did not kill him, but took out the ropes around their waists and tried to tie him up.

Xue Bai said nothing and continued walking towards him.

Li Zhen was terrified, and kept backing away, saying, "I'm not doing anything to you. The emperor has reserved the throne for you. I'll take you back to the palace."

"Li Zhen conspired with Li Heng to kill the emperor and seize the throne. His crime is extremely heinous!"

"Are you crazy? Did you hear what I said..."

"puff."

Xue Bai ignored Li Zhen's words and simply picked up a knife and killed Li Zhen.

Then, the face that looked like Li Longji froze, with a ferocious and fearful look on its face, its pupils dilated, but there was a look of sudden enlightenment in its eyes.

In the end, Li Zhen actually understood.

Xue Bai's plan was to deliberately let Li Cong die in their hands and then purge them. Whether they deposed Xue Bai or not, the result would be the same. If they came to announce Xue Bai's crimes today, they would be greeted with swords and arrows like this.

But why?

In fact, if everyone compromised a little, Xue Bai could have ascended the throne smoothly. Why must it be so bloody?

Li Zhen didn't understand this point.

"The country is in trouble, and foreign invaders are constantly harassing us. Li Heng took advantage of my time leading the army to fight the enemy and colluded with Tubo to kill the saint. His crime is unforgivable. Today, I ask you to follow me to quell the rebellion!"

Xue Bai stood beside Li Zhen's body, put on his armor, and said, "Go into Daming Palace and kill all the rebels!"

"kill!"

Fan Lao picked up the knife and thought of what Xue Bai had said to him before he took office.

His mission was simple: to kill anyone who dared to stop Xue Bai from ascending the throne.

~~
Li Lu finally ran to the Chongxuan Gate.

He looked back in shock, fortunately, the pursuers had not yet arrived.

However, it is easy to leave the Daming Palace and go to the Forbidden Garden, but it is difficult to go back to the Daming Palace from the Forbidden Garden.

"Open the palace gate quickly, I am Prince Ying!"

"Yang Hui! Let me in quickly."

The people in charge of the defense of Daming Palace now are Yang Hui, Li Tan and others. The reason why they are used is that Li Longji has no other available people around him for the time being, and also because these people's positions are naturally opposite to Xue Bai and Li Heng.

At this time, Yang Hui was at Chongxuan Gate. Seeing Li Lu coming back so quickly, he knew that something had happened. He did not dare to open the palace gate, but instead ordered people to lower a hanging basket and lift Li Lu and others up.

As a result of this delay, Li Lu heard the sound of the pursuers behind him again. He became anxious and kept cursing Yang Hui. He climbed up the hanging basket while cursing.

"quick!"

"Swish swish swish."

The basket was only halfway pulled up when a hail of arrows began to shoot towards him again.

There were even a few sporadic "bang" sounds, which were caused by some of Fan Lao's subordinates aiming heavy muskets at him and hitting the palace wall, causing dust to fly, which frightened Li Lu to tremble with fear.

"Fire arrows!"

On the palace wall, Yang Hui finally gave the order and suppressed the pursuers with a rain of arrows.

Li Yu finally climbed over the battlement and immediately grabbed Yang Hui by the collar, cursing, "You almost killed me." "Don't get excited, what happened?"

"Li Qian rebelled!"

"What is he rebelling against? The Emperor has not punished him yet, how dare he rebel?"

"He used the excuse that Li Heng had murdered the emperor. Report it to your father for his decision. You guard the palace gates and don't let him in."

Li Lu did not dare to stay here any longer, and immediately prepared to go down the city wall and enter the Xuanwu Gate in the south.

However, when he turned around, he couldn't help but ask in surprise: "What is that?"

The flames at Xuanwu Gate flickered a few times, and the sound of fighting came over. It seemed that a group of people came from Daming Palace, killing people and seizing the city.

"Are there still Li Qian's rebels in the palace?" Li Lu asked.

"No." Yang Hui was in a daze, muttering: "Probably not, right?"

"Should? Didn't you search the palace?"

"The palace is so big, can I identify all the rebels in just one day?!"

Yang Hui also cursed and said, "It is also possible that Li Heng's army had mutinied."

He seemed to think that this would be easier to deal with.

Before the two men could figure out the situation, they turned to look north and saw Xue Bai leading the imperial guards approaching Chongxuan Gate.

"How to do?"

"Come on."

Although Yang Hui was burdened with heavy responsibilities, he had no intention of fighting to the death. He ordered his soldiers to guard the palace gate and tried to escape to the Yinhan Gate in the east.

However, the small group of people who had just captured the Xuanwu Gate were already rushing over here quickly, and shot an arrow from a distance, hitting Yang Hui's thigh.

"help me!"

Li Lu didn't even save Li Zhen, so how could he save Yang Hui? He ignored him and continued to run towards Yinhan Gate.

Unfortunately, after running for a while, he saw bright flames on the Yinhan Gate from afar, and also heard the sound of fighting.

"Damn it."

Li Lu wanted to cry but had no tears, so he had to turn around and rush to Qingxiao Gate. He had been running back and forth all night, and now he was exhausted and couldn't run anymore. His willpower was no longer able to support him, and the thought of surrendering kept coming to his mind.

As he ran, he finally stopped and sat on the ground.

In front, we can see Xue Bai leading his troops into Chongxuan Gate, and Yang Hui has already surrendered.

Only Li Lubai ran back and forth.

"I surrender... Your Highness! I surrender!"

~~
"I surrender, I surrender."

Yang Hui covered his wound and watched Xue Bai slowly walking towards him. He suddenly had a premonition that Xue Bai would definitely kill him.

In his sight, he seemed to have returned to that snowy day in the fifth year of Tianbao.

That day, he secretly went to another house and had sex with his mistress. He knew that Li Niang must be enjoying herself, but there was nothing he could do. She was a princess and he could not control her. When he returned home, he found her angry.

"Eat dog intestines, this kid is called Xue Pingzhao... Li Ba Niang did it on purpose, she sent the remnants of the Three Concubines Case to me."

"Just kill him."

At that time, Yang Hui just gave this order casually.

Be it a servant of the Xue family or the son of Xue Xiu, to him, it was as easy as stepping on an ant to death.

But if he could go back in time, Yang Hui would really be more careful.

He would personally chop off the official slave's head, bury the head in the east of the city and the body in the west.

No, he would cut him into pieces.

With such deep regret and hatred, Yang Hui, lying on the ground, showed a loyal and pitiful look like a dog to its master, and called out: "Your Highness, I am waiting for you, I am waiting for Your Highness to return to the palace."

Xue Bai was still walking towards him without answering.

Yang Hui became even more uneasy. When Xue Bai was the regent, he thought Xue Bai would deal with him, but he didn't. That was because Xue Bai put the overall situation first. The atmosphere now is very different.

"Your Highness, please ascend the throne!" Yang Hui suddenly had an idea and thought that he might be able to persuade Xue Bai to put the overall situation first, so he said loudly: "Li Heng murdered the emperor, and I am a witness. I only ask Your Highness to ascend the throne!"

He crawled towards Xue Bai.

"puff."

With one stab of the knife, Yang Hui was nailed to the ground.

It is true that Fan Lao was born in the countryside, but he is not a fool. He wants to kill all those who prevent His Highness from ascending the throne, but if he lets go of those who surrendered because they saw that they could not stop him, how can he establish his authority?
"Your Highness." Yang Hui did not give up and murmured, "In fact, Concubine Wu Hui knew that the Saint wanted to get rid of the Crown Prince, so she asked me to offer advice. I..."

Fan Lao glanced at Xue Bai and saw that Xue Bai's face was still grim, so he stabbed him again.

Blood kept gushing out of Yang Hui's mouth. Xue Bai had no interest in knowing his story at all.

Seeing this scene, Li Lu was frightened and wanted to escape again, but his legs had no strength.

He didn't hear what Yang Hui said at the end, and thought that Xue Bai killed Yang Hui to avenge Li Ying.

"Your Highness, listen to me. My second brother and I have a very good relationship. What happened back then had a hidden story behind it."

As Li Lu spoke, his voice gradually became tearful, but this did not seem to stop Xue Bai's murderous intent at all.

He had no choice but to go on.

"My father thought that Zhang Jiuling and my second brother were too close, so he wanted to test Zhang Jiuling. So he instructed me to report my second brother's private collection of weapons in front of Zhang Jiuling, in order to test Zhang Jiuling's reaction."

When Xue Bai arrived here, he actually smiled slightly.

Li Lu didn't know what this smile meant and was greatly encouraged.

"Perhaps if Zhang Jiuling had advocated the abolition of the crown prince, they would have been fine. But Zhang Jiuling insisted on pleading for my second brother, imitating the words of others who advised Emperor Wu of Han: 'A son who uses his father's soldiers should be flogged, and how can we touch the foundation of the country?' He thought that this would persuade my father, who hated being compared to Emperor Wu of Han the most. In short, it was my father who instructed me to do this. I didn't want to harm my second brother, really!"

Xue Bai finally responded to him and asked, "Do you think that if Zhang Jiuling advocated the abolition of the crown prince, they would be fine?"

"Yes, yes, it was Zhang Jiuling who killed my second brother, not me." Li Lu said.

"You are wrong. No matter how he answers, they will all die."

Li Lu was stunned for a moment, then reacted.

Since Li Longji suspected that the prime minister was colluding with the crown prince, and had asked him to file a complaint to test him, even if Zhang Jiuling said it differently, it would only be considered intentional.

It's certain that you will die.

"Yes, why does the emperor want to kill my second brother?" Li Yu said, "Look, it has nothing to do with me. It doesn't matter whether I file a complaint or not."

"Yes, it's all the same."

"puff."

Another stab of the knife killed Li Lu on the spot.

In this way, Xue Bai had captured the north gate of Daming Palace. He did not stop and continued to kill his way into the palace.

~~
After Li Heng met Li Longji, he knew that the throne could not be obtained by just asking, so he immediately made up his mind and seized the throne with an iron-blooded approach.

"How many men do we have left?"

"Only three hundred." Zhang Ting said, "The rest were taken to the west of the city by Li Chu."

Li Heng frowned, but didn't ask her any more questions. Instead, he called over an old eunuch and asked, "Where are they?"

"It must be coming soon."

"Hurry up." Li Heng groaned and paced back and forth.

Zhang Ting knew that the old eunuch was the one who was in charge of dealing with filth in Prince Zhong's mansion. He usually kept quiet and would never attract other people's attention.

She could roughly hear from their conversation that there was another armed force.

Zhang Ting knew that Li Heng was good at using eunuchs, but she didn't expect that Li Heng had hidden something behind her back.

"What? Are there any troops available?" Zhang Ting asked.

"Not counting the troops, they are the old soldiers Huangfu Weiming sent to the capital that year."

"Those people? Didn't they die long ago?"

"There was more than one group. The last group was found by Li Linfu, but Pei Mian failed to deal with them properly. As a result, some of them defected to Xue Bai." Li Heng said, "But we had already kept hundreds of death warriors in our farm outside the city to prepare for any emergency."

Zhang Ting asked, "Are they still here?"

Li Heng shook his head and said, "After so many changes, there are only a few left. Only a hundred or so have been recalled one after another."

"Why didn't you tell me before?" Zhang Ting smiled, showing some joy, and asked, "What do you plan to do with them?"

Li Heng still didn't tell her directly, but just comforted her with a few words.

"As long as Li Chu can get rid of Xue Ni, there is no need to worry too much about the palace. You will be my queen then. I want to meet Li Tan. Can you help me arrange it?"

"Okay, as long as Li Tan joins us, it will be safer."

Zhang Ting smiled on her face, but she was actually guessing in her heart. Li Heng said there was no need to worry about the palace, so he must have a way to send the death squad directly into the Daming Palace to stage a coup.

Unfortunately, this is based on the premise that Li Chu gets rid of Xue Bai. If Li Chu holds military power and becomes the crown prince, what is the point of her becoming the queen?

Everyone was making plans in their minds when bad news came.

"Prince Yu is back!"

Li Heng was worried. Seeing Li Chu rushing back, he asked hurriedly, "Did you get rid of Xue Ni?"

"We've fallen into a trap." Li Chu said, "Xue Ni is not in the west of the city at all. He is just bluffing. I suspect he has gone to the forbidden garden."

"what?"

Li Heng was shocked and quickly said to Zhang Ting: "Go find Li Tan first and persuade him to join forces with us."

Zhang Ting was suspicious when she saw that the father and son were planning to plot again, but she still said, "Okay."

As soon as she left, Li Heng and Li Chu walked to the table and unfolded a map, which was the map of the Daming Palace that they had prepared in their early years.

"Xue Ni must have entered the palace from Chongxuan Gate." Li Chu traced on the map and said, "The emperor still has prestige. He can organize the imperial guards to temporarily guard the front hall. If they kill each other, it will be very beneficial to us. I'm afraid..."

"I'm afraid they won't fight?"

"Yes, if they join forces, we will be dead."

"They will kill each other." Li Heng pointed at the map and said, "I have arranged manpower here. I have been waiting for more than ten years, and I finally need it."

(End of this chapter)