Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 589 Stirring
At night, the stars hang low in the sky, as if you can pick them with your hands.

Li Qiwu was sleeping soundly when he was suddenly woken up by someone. When he opened his eyes, he saw Lang Ruozan.

"Wake up, the princess wants to see you."

Before coming, Li Qiwu had heard Yan Quanming talk about the Tibetan princess Nalanzhen. She was once a captive when His Majesty conquered Nanzhao. Now she is the eldest princess in Tibet who advocates that the Zamp should rule the country personally and ally with the Tang Dynasty. She has some influence.

"Where is the princess?"

"Jokhang Temple."

"Where is that?"

"More than a hundred years ago, the Tibetan king married Princess Bhrikuti. Among the princess's dowry was a life-size statue of Sakyamuni when he was eight years old. The temple was built with soil carried by goats, so it was named 'Resa', which is also the name of our capital. You Han people like to call it the Jokhang Temple."

Li Qiwu asked, "It's still so dark, are we afraid of being discovered if we set out now?"

Lang Jiezan said: "This place is far from the Jokhang Temple, and that place is closer to the Hongshan Palace."

Li Qiwu looked back and saw that the Zamazhisang Palace behind them was just a temporary palace. Trisong Detsen was now far away from the center of power.

They disguised themselves as ordinary barbarians and left quietly. After two days, they entered the royal capital, where the defenses were much stricter.

After arriving at the foot of the magnificent Hongshan Palace, they had to wait until nightfall before someone came to take them to the Jokhang Temple.

Along the way, Li Qiwu had heard that this was a Buddhist holy place in Tubo. When he arrived, he found that it was indeed majestic and magnificent from the outside. However, when he walked through the small door, he was hit by a bloody smell.

There were no monks in the temple, and the further you went inside, the more eerie it felt.

After walking around the bell tower, he saw a big bell that had fallen to the ground. Li Qiwu noticed that there seemed to be some words engraved on the bell. He touched it with his hand and felt something sticky. He took a torch to shine on it and found bloodstains.

"what is this?"

"Stop looking and let's go."

They walked to a small door and the guide knocked on it. Li Qiwu stood aside waiting. Suddenly he felt he stepped on something. He bent down to pick it up and took a look. Immediately his pupils dilated and his face changed with horror.

It was a bone with the flesh and blood removed from it.

The places where the bone scraper had scraped appeared white under the light of the fire, making the flesh and blood next to it look even redder.

"vomit."

Li Qiwu quickly dropped the bone in his hand and looked up, only to see that the basket beside the small door was full of bones like this. When he threw it, an eyeball rolled down and rolled to his feet.

He had been having trouble breathing and feeling dizzy all day long since he entered Tubo. After being frightened by this, he finally rolled his eyes and passed out.

I don’t know how long I was unconscious, but when I woke up, Li Qiwu found himself in a Buddhist temple.

But there was no Buddha statue in the hall, only a huge chopping board covered with flesh and skin. On the shelf above it was a row of iron hooks, with corpses hanging on the hooks, swaying.

Li Qiwu was so frightened that he quickly stood up and tried to escape. With a "bang", he bumped into something. A round object rolled down from the chopping board. In the dim light, it looked like a head.

"what."

He fell to the ground, thinking of Chang'an, and felt extremely nostalgic. This trip to Tubo took him more than half a year on the road, through wind, frost, snow and rain, not to mention how hard it was, but after all the hard work, he got this hellish shock.

With a creaky sound, the door was pushed open.

Li Qiwu turned his head and saw a woman about twenty years old standing there.

The moon also came out from the clouds and shone on her face. She was not very beautiful, with a somewhat dark skin and a thin figure, but her eyes were very bright, with a firm and wise look, which made people feel her extraordinary at first sight.

"You...don't kill me!" Li Qiwu couldn't help crying.

"Is this the envoy from the Tang court? Xue Bai's judgment in employing people is getting worse and worse."

Hearing the name "Xue Bai", Li Qiwu actually felt a sense of familiarity. In fact, few people call the old name of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty nowadays, and the process of the old name gradually being forgotten was accompanied by the collapse of the Tianbao prosperous era.

When Your Majesty was named Xue Bai, he was not so scary, and the Tang Dynasty was at a time of prosperity and joy.

"How dare you mention His Majesty's name? No, no, are you an old friend of His Majesty?"

"I am his disciple." said the woman.

Someone stepped forward from behind her and said, "This is the eldest princess of Tubo."

The light of the torch illuminated the chopping board in the Buddhist temple, and there was beef and mutton on it. As for the round head on the ground, it turned out to be from the Buddha statue.

Li Qiwu was still in shock, but now he felt less scared.

"I didn't mean to scare you." Na Lanzhen said, "It's just that it's safer here."

She entered the Buddhist temple filled with blood and flesh, looked around, and said, "This place was originally a holy place, but now it has become a slaughterhouse. Do you know why?"

"Why?"

"This is all done by Maxiang Zhongbajie." Nalanzhen said: "He is from my father's mother's family. He has been in control of the country since my father passed away. In order to maintain power, he deliberately overturned my father's achievements and wanted to destroy Buddhism."

As she spoke, Li Qiwu glanced behind her and saw Lang Jiezan, Yebudong and many Han monks were there.

It seems that the Tang court's suppression of Buddhism led to many eminent monks entering Tubo, some of whom became Nalanzhen's helpers.

"How did you get this letter?"

Li Qiwu said: "I stole it from Dazalugong's tent."

Na Lanzhen asked, "Did you take it yourself?"

"Yes."

"Did Daza Lugong reply?"

"Yes, but I didn't get it." Li Qiwu said: "When I entered his tent, the reply letter had already been sent away. But I know that he must have expressed his willingness to help Ma Xiang."

Na Lanzhen asked: "How do you know?"

Li Qiwu said: "Because I borrowed troops from him, he once asked me whether the Tang Dynasty would support him in establishing a new Zanpu."

He finally remembered his mission and continued, "The Tang Dynasty has defeated Dazalugong. He lost far more soldiers than what was reported to you. I'm afraid you don't know this yet? Now is the best time to deal with Maxiang, because Dazalugong will definitely not be able to help him anymore."

Na Lanzhen stared at Li Qiwu for a while with a scrutinizing look, and sneered, "Do you want to provoke civil strife in Tubo?"

"I do not have."

"I guessed it right, but it doesn't matter." Na Lanzhen said, "Even if there was no letter, I would get rid of Ma Xiang."

Li Qiwu said: "I came here to wait for the Zamp to take power, so that I can bring back the letter of alliance between Tubo and the Tang Dynasty."

"Don't worry, the letter of credence will be given to you." Na Lanzhen said, "I came here tonight and have prepared a plan to get rid of Ma Xiang, but I still need your cooperation."

Li Qiwu had no choice but to ask: "What should I do?"

Na Lanzhen said: "This time, the Tang army defeated Dazalugong, and Ma Xiang also wants to temporarily stop the war. He must negotiate with you."

"Yes."

Li Qiwu pointed at Lang Jiezan and Ye Budong and said, "We have left the delegation and are on our way to see the Zamp first. The delegation will officially enter the capital in three days."

"I know." Na Lanzhen said, "Ma Xiang will meet you at Hongshan Palace. We plan to take this opportunity to get rid of him."

When Li Qiwu heard this, he became worried and asked, "Will it be dangerous if I am there too?"

"No." Na Lanzhen said, "You just need to give this to him."

It was an oval agate stone with some black and white patterns on it. It looked like nine eyes watching the world, which made Li Qiwu's scalp tingle.

He could feel that the stone seemed to possess some kind of divinity.

"what is this?"

"Dzi beads." Nalanzhen said, "It is a sacred object of the Bon religion. It is said that it is an ornament worn by gods. Whenever the beads are broken or slightly damaged, the gods will throw them down to the human world. You just need to give this Dzi bead to Ma Xiang, and he will personally deliver it to the shrine for worship. The shrine of the Bon religion is on the Red Mountain, carved into a cave, with a stone door outside."

"and then?"

Na Lanzhen said: "I bought gunpowder in the black market in Chang'an, and bribed a great wizard of the Bon religion. I am waiting for Ma Xiang to enter the cave, and then I will trap him to death inside. Others will think that he died from a punishment from heaven."

Li Qiwu asked again: "Killing someone is not difficult, but the difficult part is, can you clean up the mess after he dies?"

Na Lanzhen stood up and paced in the Buddhist temple, watching the former holy place become a slaughterhouse today.

"You know what? The statue of Sakyamuni is hidden in the mud two feet deep under our feet. It will definitely be dug out one day. Just like the anger in the hearts of the Tibetan people now, Ma Xiang's actions have angered the heavens and the people. I have been preparing for too long to get rid of him."

Li Qiwu looked at the woman in front of him and felt her surging ambition, which gave him a vague sense of familiarity.

She sneered slightly and said, "Your Majesty taught me these means of fighting for power. When I get rid of the treacherous ministers, Tubo will be friendly with the Tang Dynasty for generations."

~~
"If someone easily makes you a promise that they obviously can't keep, they are most likely lying."

In Chang'an City, Xue Bai said this after reading a letter.

The letter was written by Dazhalugong, who expressed his willingness to return the occupied areas of Helong after the defeat, so that the Tang Dynasty could resume exchanges with the four towns of Anxi. The prerequisite was that Guo Ziyi needed to go to Shanzhou in person to form an alliance with him.

Guo Ziyi also submitted a petition, expressing his willingness to go.

In this regard, Du Youlin felt that since Guo Ziyi was willing to go, it showed that this matter was feasible. However, Xue Bai disagreed, which made him quite confused.

Xue Bai didn't believe in Dazalugong's sincerity.

He really wanted to take back the Hexi Corridor as soon as possible, but the more he did so, the more likely he was to be deceived.

Dazalugong could not make the decision on such a big matter as returning Helong, so he had to send someone back to the capital to report. However, only half a year had passed, and there was not enough time for his messenger to go back and forth, so it must be a lie.

"As for Guo Ziyi's statement, it was because he had to do it because a knife was on his neck." Xue Bai said, "He was coerced by Dazha Lugong, and he was worried that if he refused to go, I would doubt his loyalty."

Du Youlin was inevitably surprised and asked, "If that's the case, why did Dazha Lugong do this?"

"Or do you want to lure out and get rid of Guo Ziyi?"

"But he just lost not long ago, so he should be resting and recuperating. How could he cause trouble again so soon?"

When Du Youlin asked this, Xue Bai also became confused.

He spread out the map and looked at it for a long time, and suddenly an answer came to his mind.

Could it be that Feng Changqing has returned to Anxi?

Therefore, Dazha Lugong was worried about being attacked on two fronts, so he wanted to try to get rid of Guo Ziyi.

If this is the case, the imperial court must do something to relieve the pressure from Tubo for Anxi.

Xue Bai thought that the envoys he sent should have arrived in Tubo by now, but he wondered if they had instigated civil strife in Tubo.

~~
At the same time, the towering Hongshan Palace.

Ma Xiang was discussing with his subordinates about welcoming the Tang envoys, when suddenly, a confidant hurried over and whispered in his ear: "Da Lun, someone wants to see you. He said it concerns your life."

At first, Ma Xiang didn't believe it and didn't want to pay attention, but in the end he had an idea and said, "Bring it to the back to see me."

He stood up and walked to the back hall, where he saw a man kneeling on the ground in fear.

"You said someone wants to harm me?"

"Yes, Yixi Wangbo, who is beside the Zamp, contacted the eldest princess Nalanzhen a few days ago and discussed getting rid of Dalun." Ma Xiang didn't believe it and sneered, "Can that girl accomplish anything?"

"The princess has already thought of a plan. She will wait for Dalun to receive the Dzi Bead and enshrine it in the shrine, and then trap Dalun to death..."

After hearing this, Ma Xiang was finally moved.

~~
Two days later, Li Qiwu arrived at the royal capital again.

He sneaked out of the city, returned to the delegation, changed into his official robe, and entered the Hongshan Palace openly.

Here, he met the great Tibetan minister, Maxiang Zhongbajie, who was called "uncle minister".

Ma Xiang is almost seventy years old this year. He looks like a goat and is the leader of the goats. In this city named after goats, he has a very high status and his pomp is much greater than that of the Zamp.

Thanks to the fact that Chidai Danzhu was a wise ruler, Trisong Detsen had many supporters as soon as he ascended the throne, and Mashang's age made it difficult for him to slowly weaken the royal family's reputation. Therefore, Mashang chose the most radical method, which was to seize power through religious disputes.

In Li Qiwu's opinion, although Ma Xiang is powerful now, he is bound to fail.

Because the Tibetan people's hearts were not with him.

However, they still had a good conversation and talked about art, music, painting, tea ceremony, and polo, all of which were things that Li Qiwu liked.

Afterwards, Li Qiwu presented the gifts he brought. Everything else was written on the gift list, except for a box, which he took out from his sleeve.

"This gemstone needs to be personally examined by Da Lun."

As he spoke, Li Qiwu opened the box.

Everyone around was amazed.

"It's a Dzi bead? It's actually a Dzi bead?"

Li Qiwu had only heard Na Lanzhen say it before, and he was unaware of the barbarians' worship of Dzi beads. But now, seeing everyone standing up, he realized how amazing this thing was.

But he didn't notice that when Ma Xiang saw the Dzi bead, there was a slight change in his eyes.

"This is a sacred object. Thank you, Li Shaoqing." Ma Xiang bowed deeply and asked, "Can I take this sacred object to the altar?"

Li Qiwu said quickly: "Since it has been given to the Great Theory, it should be handled by the Great Theory."

At this point, he felt that Nalan Zhen's plan was half successful.

Before dawn the next day, Ma Xiang dressed up, wearing a tall pointed hat, holding the Dzi beads in his hands, and climbed up the Red Mountain with a group of wizards.

Li Qiwu was also honored as an honored guest. He followed in the team and watched the Bon religion's sacrifices with curiosity.

After the sacrifice, Ma Xiang muttered something, held the Dzi beads in his hands, and turned to enter the sacred cave.

Li Qiwu stretched his neck, waiting for the turmoil to happen. He was eager to complete his mission and return to Chang'an.

This round trip would take more than a year, plus all the hard work, and I'm afraid it would shorten his life by more than 30 to 5 years. By then, it would be time for him to enjoy wealth and luxury.

"boom."

Finally, the divine cave in front shook, and the rocks collapsed, blocking the cave entrance.

"what happened?"

"It's divine punishment!"

"Da Lun has violated divine punishment and is a sinner of Bon!"

Many people shouted loudly, scaring Ma Xiang's supporters away from stepping forward to rescue him.

It's done.

Li Qiwu felt sorry for the old man who was trapped to death in the cave, but he could finally return to Chang'an... Suddenly, chaos occurred.

"Get them!"

"kill!"

All of a sudden, a group of Tibetan soldiers appeared from nowhere, holding swords and rushing towards those who were shouting and accusing Ma Xiang of his crimes.

Li Qiwu turned his head and his eyes were filled with fear again.

When he saw Ma Xiang standing in front of him, his scalp suddenly went numb and he muttered to himself, "Isn't this person trapped in the divine cave?"

Warm blood splashed all over his face.

The surroundings once again became a slaughterhouse, but this time, people were slaughtered one by one.

Then, some soldiers looked at the envoys including Li Qiwu and Lang Jiezan.

"Don't kill them."

Suddenly, someone stood in front of them, holding a token and stopped the soldiers.

"This is Dalun's token, why don't you retreat?!"

This man's figure is small, but at this moment his aura is even greater than Li Qiwu's. It is Ye Butong.

Looking at the token in his hand, Li Qiwu couldn't help but wonder, could it be that this guy betrayed Na Lanzhen's plan?
An ungrateful person who can never be tamed.

Ma Xiang walked slowly into the pool of blood, without even looking at the bodies on the ground, and said, "The ones who plotted rebellion are Princess Nalanzhen and Yixi Wangbo. Go and capture them all."

"Yes!"

It is conceivable that Wangdu will create countless unjust cases, and Mashang will definitely take this opportunity to eliminate dissidents and eliminate the forces supporting Trisong Detsen.

He looked at Li Qiwu and walked over.

Ye Budong stopped him with both hands and said, "Da Lun, this matter has nothing to do with the Tang envoy. The Tang Dynasty only cares about forming an alliance with those who really have the say."

Ma Xiang took a deep look at the slave, waved his hand, and had him taken away.

A knife was put on Li Qiwu's neck again, making him tremble with fear.

Ma Xiang approached Li Qiwu and asked, "Did Lord Tang ask you to do this?"

"No, I went to Tubo just to negotiate... The Tang Dynasty has already defeated Dazalugong and beheaded tens of thousands of people. If Tubo does not want the Tang army to cross the Sun and Moon Mountains, it should return the Helong land it occupies. This is my condition."

"Where did the Dzi beads come from?"

"After I arrived in Tubo, I was tied up by Nalan Zhen's people. She asked me to give this to Dalun. I didn't know what would happen!"

Ma Xiang's eyes were still murderous, and he even snatched the knife, pretending to kill Li Qiwu with one blow, but he still held back.

Although he seemed to have won today, he actually lost. There could have been a more appropriate way to seize power, but now he has ended up in a situation where both sides suffer losses and the national strength of Tubo has been greatly damaged.

Ma Xiang knew very well that all this was deliberately planned by the Tang court, but there was no evidence.

The Tang court sent these random people. Langjiezan and Yebudong, who were involved in the conspiracy, were both Tibetans, one a poor man and the other even an insignificant slave.

If they told the world that they had the Tibetan king and prime minister in their hands, they would only become a laughing stock.

Moreover, at this moment, it is not appropriate to continue the war with the Tang court.

He finally dropped the knife and smiled at Li Qiwu. His old face was wrinkled like a chrysanthemum, but in fact he was smiling with murderous intent, which was particularly scary.

~~
Na Lanzhen is in Hongshan Palace today, gazing at the shrine from afar, waiting for the result.

She had already made preparations. As soon as Ma Xiang died, she would quickly seize power and issue orders in the name of welcoming back the Zamp.

However, before the rumbling sound had lasted long, her confidant came running over and said, "Princess, it's bad, Ma Xiang is not dead yet!"

"What's going on? Didn't he go into the cave?"

"No, it's fake. The news leaked out and he made arrangements in advance."

"Come on!"

Nalanzhen rushed to the horse as soon as possible, jumped on it, and headed straight for Zhamazhisang Palace.

She had to rescue Trisong Detsen immediately, so that she would have a chance to lead the tribes to confront Mashang head-on.

However, before she could run out of the capital, a group of people suddenly rushed out from both sides and shot arrows at them.

"Swish swish swish."

Na Lanzhen's confidants fell one after another.

She was filled with grief, and whipped the horse even harder, and rushed out like an arrow.

Rushing all the way to Shannan, they saw flames rising into the sky from afar. Nalanzhen was very anxious and quickened her pace, only to find that a huge fire had already broken out in the Zamazhisang Palace.

"Damn it!"

She was filled with rage and wanted to kill, but the troops sent by Mashang had already blocked the road to Zhamashisang Palace, so she could only endure it temporarily to protect herself.

Soon, Hongshan Palace announced to all tribes that the eldest princess had colluded with Minister Yixi Wangbo to rebel, assassinated Maxiang, and set fire to the Zamp to death. Fortunately, Maxiang was blessed by the gods and survived.

A few days later, Mashang supported Trisong Detsen's cousin Moumang Rutsen as the king, and issued an order to hunt down Nalanzhen.

~~
During this period, the capital was in chaos, conflicts continued to intensify, and it was like a slaughterhouse everywhere.

Li Qiwu thought he was going to die here and would never be able to return to Chang'an.

However, when Ma Xiang had finally managed to maintain his power temporarily, he met Li Qiwu again and expressed his willingness to agree to the court's conditions and form an alliance with the Tang court, but he needed the Tang court to recognize the new Zamp.

Li Qiwu then took on the mission of delivering the letter from the country and embarked on the road back to Chang'an. This journey would take more than half a year, and he had a premonition that this journey might not be smooth.

Ye Butong was still in the team. Li Qiwu originally hated this slave who leaked the information, but Ye Butong asked him a question in return.

"Alang has also met Trisong Detsen. Although he is young, he has great ambitions and is very popular. If we help him get rid of Ma Xiang, and he later becomes a great leader, will it really be good for the Tang Dynasty?"

"What do you mean? You are not following orders..."

Li Qiwu had a guess in his mind, so he stopped making things difficult for Ye Butong.

They traveled for another month and arrived at the Subi tribe, where they stayed in a temple one day.

Li Qiwu was very tired and fell asleep early. When he was sleeping soundly, he suddenly felt someone talking to him.

"Li Qiwu, wake up."

He then opened his eyes and saw several monks standing in front of the bed. Among them was a young monk who was tied up and looked very familiar.

After taking a closer look, he couldn't help but exclaimed.

"Zanpu..."

Suddenly, the person beside the couch covered Li Qiwu's mouth and nose tightly, leaving only his eyes full of fear.

Just when he thought he was going to die, he heard the other person's voice.

"Don't be so startled, I'll let you go, we are family now."

(End of this chapter)