Elegy of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 661: People’s Hearts Are as Treacherous as Ghosts

Chang'an, Xiuwenfang.

The heavy snow had not stopped yet. In the pitch-black night, there was no starlight or moonlight. The cold wind howled and made the branches on the roadside shake, making a rustling sound as if ghosts were wandering around.

More than a dozen strong men wearing leather coats, straw hats and swords on their waists came to an inconspicuous house in the town.

"Is this here?"

The leader among them asked, and this person was Wei Jian’s younger brother Wei Lan.

"It's here."

The only person in the team dressed as a Taoist priest answered.

"Kick the door, kill people, and leave no one alive."

Weilan waved his hand gently, turned around and went to wait at the gate of the workshop.

Behind him, there was chaos and the sound of people crying for their parents gradually faded away. Wei Lan came to Xiuwenfang alone and saw the snow on the ground, which was pale and white.

"The human heart is treacherous and much scarier than ghosts."

Leaning against the door frame, Weilan exhaled a breath of foul air, forming a mist in the air, like a giant dragon breathing fire.

There was a faint smell of blood coming from the air, and I didn't know who was slaughtering pigs and sheep at night.

Soon, the team arrived at the gate and reported to Weilan.

"Minister Wei, it has been dealt with."

One of them reported to him.

"Well, go to the next place and capture and kill them according to the list. Leave no one alive. I will go back and report now. I will not go with you."

Wei Lan said this, turned around and headed towards the Ministry of Justice.

He came to the six ministries in the Daming Palace, where Wei Jian had been waiting for a long time.

"how?"

Wei Jian rubbed his hands and asked, putting the brush on the pen holder. The government office has floor heating, and it is spring-like all year round. As soon as Wei Lan came in, he took off his thick fur coat and hung it on the rack against the wall.

He knelt down opposite Wei Jian and said with some disinterest, "It went very smoothly. Maybe it's because people's hearts have changed."

"Yes, people's hearts have changed."

Wei Jian sighed, he was also lamenting the fall of the prosperous Tang Dynasty. But this did not prevent the aristocratic families in Guanzhong, including him, from continuing to engage in petty and despicable activities.

"Yan Zhenqing had made many arrangements in Guanzhong, but he did not expect that people's hearts would change now."

Wei Lan also felt a little emotional. Their "elimination plan" was going so smoothly that it was unimaginable. The "nails" Yan Zhenqing left in Chang'an were removed one by one because of the "insider" who reported them.

Even if there are some that slip through the net, it is difficult to guarantee their loyalty.

"Li Baochen's cultivation of immortality is indeed a matter of..." Wei Jian sighed. The development of many things was beyond their expectations, and their impact could not be described as "good" or "bad".

Who is the happiest when Li Baochen cultivates immortality?
First of all, Li Wan, of course, still can't control the power. Whether he is happy or not is not very important.

The second group was the Guanlong nobles.

Since the imperial examination system has been cancelled in Guanzhong and there is no way to reopen it for the time being, the Guanlong families have regained control of the Guanzhong political power.

The current situation in Guanzhong is a bit like the Eastern Jin Dynasty during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, or Luoyang during the era of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

The Guanlong families could send talents to the new court without any scruples, and they were also willing to cede part of their power to Li Baochen and his gang.

Li Baochen had very few talented people under his command. Even if they were all entrusted with important tasks, it would be impossible for them to gain an advantage in the new court.

In addition, Marshal Baochen is now obsessed with cultivating immortals and does not care about anything else, and does not have any "worldly" ambitions. Therefore, this situation is actually the best state for the Guanlong nobles.

They stopped making trouble and began to actively plan the operation of the new court, allocating some unowned land to refugees, stabilizing production, reorganizing the imperial guards, and placing their own people in Li Baochen's original army.

The situation in Guanzhong began to stabilize, and this was not the kind of stability led by Li Baochen, which was very different from Yan Zhenqing's original expectation.

In this situation, Wei Jian didn't know whether to say it was good or bad. After all, Wei was one of them and was having a lot of fun in this wave.

According to Yan Zhenqing's idea, the current situation in Guanzhong should be a mess, and everyone is looking forward to Prince Ying Li Lu returning to Chang'an to restore order.

But in fact, now everyone is used to the emperor having no real power over their heads, and no one wants to ask for a father back again.

Under the resistance of the Guanlong family, Yan Zhenqing's secret arrangements were as transparent as a piece of paper and were swept away in a few seconds.

Human hearts are so fickle.

As long as there is profit, even loved ones and friends can be abandoned. The Guanlong family will not listen to Yan Zhenqing just because he comes from this group. They will not take Li Lu, who is far away in Jingxiang, seriously.

Since they already have the obedient and indecisive Li Wan, what else do they need Li Lu for?

Could it be that Yan Zhenqing is easier to manipulate than Li Baochen, who is obsessed with cultivating immortals?
In fact, the answer is obvious, but some people would rather believe in the revival of the prosperous Tang Dynasty and are unwilling to face reality.

"Brother, the world will probably remain peaceful for a few years, but after a few years, bloody storms are inevitable."

Weilan said with a heavy face.

"Yes, but we have to wait until we defeat Li Lu."

Wei Jian said with a cold light in his eyes.

Once the arrow is shot, there is no turning back. This is a battle of life and death. Even though Yan Zhenqing had promised many things to the Guanlong family before, they could no longer care about it.

The aristocratic families in Guanzhong have recently reached a consensus to support Li Wan as a puppet emperor, sideline Li Baochen and his cronies, and resolutely resist Prince Ying from entering Guanzhong.

This time, Li Baochen's eldest son Li Weicheng led the army, with Ma Lin as his deputy general, and stationed 20,000 troops in Lantian, intending to ambush Li Yu's troops. Li Yu stationed his troops in Shangzhou, south of the mountains, preparing to take a small road to attack Lantian and march to Chang'an.

With the cooperation of internal forces, Guanzhong was captured.

For Wei Jian and others, the battlefield has become one-way transparent.

This time with the cooperation of the Guanlong family, the so-called "insider" has conveyed false information to Li Lu. Now this most promising one of Ji Ge's descendants is probably still dreaming of entering Guanzhong and unifying the world!
Wei Jian sneered, "It's hard to say what the future will be like, but it's not hard to imagine that the Li clan will be sidelined and become puppets. Even without Li Baochen, Guanzhong will not be at peace in the future. Just wait and see."

"Yes."

Weilan sighed, feeling somewhat melancholy.

In the past, the Tang Dynasty was so powerful, and the emperor’s words were golden and lawful.

Now, if he says he is gone, he is gone. The emperor is like a flag hanging on a flagpole. It is useless to say anything. Everything depends on what the person carrying the flag says.

At this moment, a messenger wearing a fur coat and a bamboo hat, without even bothering to brush off the snow on his body, walked directly into the yamen and saluted Wei Jian with his fists.

He pulled out a thin bamboo tube from his waist, held it with both hands and handed it to Wei Jian.

"it is good!"

After opening the letter, Wei Jian yelled and pounded the table! The muscles on his face were tense, with a hint of suppression in his excitement.

……

Northwest of Shangzhou, at the foot of Xiong'er Mountain, there is a road similar to a "plank road", but it is not protruding from the edge of the cliff. It is an artificial road supported by wood and iron on a rugged cobblestone road.

Less than ten feet wide, you can lead a horse but not run it. The wood under your feet has been in disrepair for a long time and is in a dilapidated state. Rotten wood that collapses when stepped on can be seen everywhere.

In fact, this is not surprising, because the last renovation was in the 14th year of Kaiyuan. When Ji Ge was young, he did some human resources.

However, no one could have imagined that an army was walking on this plank road in the wind and snow, trying to cross the Xiong'er Mountain, which was rarely visited in winter, and launch a surprise attack on Lantian County.

"Mr. Yan, is this march really reliable?"

Prince Ying Li Yu, wearing ordinary Tang army uniform, approached Yan Zhenqing and whispered, no, he has now ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, so it is quite appropriate to call him Emperor Li Yu. Li Yu was very courageous, and he was not completely confident in anyone. So in this surprise attack, Li Yu not only personally commanded the army, but also led the troops himself. He wanted to gain military merit and prestige by this.

Among Ji Ge's descendants, Li Lu was relatively outstanding. Putting aside his abilities, his personality was more like that of Emperor Taizong, although of course, his abilities were far inferior.

It is reasonable to regard him as a beggar version of Taizong.

"Don't worry, as long as we conquer Lantian County, the internal supporters in Guanzhong will rise up to respond to Your Majesty."

Yan Zhenqing said this with certainty.

He had received many letters of loyalty to Li Yu, all from the Guanzhong noble families. As long as the army took Lantian and threatened Chang'an, these people would respond to Li Yu in Chang'an.

Li Baochen is not a supernatural being, so how can he deal with this situation where he is besieged both internally and externally?
Besides, who could have imagined that the troops of Jingxiang would set out from Shangzhou and attack Lantian at full speed?
Even dogs don't walk on this road in winter!

Yan Zhenqing was very confident that Li Lu had the right time, right place and right people.

Of course, it was winter, which was the same for both sides of the war, but the enemy could not have expected that anyone would dare to take the dangerous route at this time!
Just looking at this move, the battle is half won.

Unless the enemy can know the timing of their advance in advance.

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But how is that possible?
They have so many spies in Guanzhong, and once the enemy makes any move, these spies will send people to give them early warning.

Li Baochen in Guanzhong has suffered for a long time!

In Yan Zhenqing's view, those "righteous men" who were loyal to the Tang Dynasty only wanted to restore the former glory of the Tang Dynasty and hoped that a strong emperor would lead them to create greater glory!
"Boom!"

Suddenly there was a loud noise behind me!
Yan Zhenqing and Li Lu turned around in horror and found that the plank road had collapsed dozens of feet behind them.

Many soldiers who fell down lay on the ground wailing.

The army in the front had already passed, but the army behind found that the road was blocked. More than ten feet of wood had rolled down the mountain. There was a shallow frozen river, and on both sides were smooth cobblestone roads, rugged and winding.

This plank road is similar to the overpass in Fang Chongyong’s previous life. The road under the overpass leads to somewhere, but it is completely different from the one on the bridge.

"All troops stop! Build a bridge quickly!"

The messenger shouted to the troops behind.

"All troops stop! Build a bridge quickly!"

The sound is passed on in sequence.

"Mr. Yan, this plank road... why didn't it collapse earlier or later, but it collapsed right after I walked over it?"

Emperor Li Lu pulled Yan Zhenqing aside and asked in a low voice.

For no reason, he had an illusion that he would die here today.

"General Lu, what's the situation?"

Seeing Lu Jing coming over, Li Lu asked with concern.

"Your Majesty, the soldiers are removing the wood at the back to fill the gap. It will probably take half a day."

Lu Jing frowned and said, looking very calm. He was actually very worried, but he couldn't show it.

As the backbone of the army, there is no such thing as "fear". Even if it means death, you cannot run away.

Seeing Lu Jiong's calm face, Li Lu felt a little relieved.

The soldiers brought a blanket and handed it to Li Lu, who was shivering with cold.

At this moment, the soldiers in the front began to run desperately towards the back!

Lu Jing drew his sword, grabbed a soldier and asked, "What happened? Didn't you say you should stay where you are? Why are you retreating without permission?"

The soldier shouted in fear, "The enemy troops are coming! There are so many of them! We can't resist them!"

Before he finished speaking, three arrows hit him from behind, and even one arrow hit Lu Jing's shoulder armor! However, it did not penetrate the armor, and it was stuck on the armor like a decoration.

"Array up!"

Lu Jiong yelled.

The soldiers around him gathered together, and the sword and shield soldiers protected Yan Zhenqing, Li Lu and others behind them.

call out!
A firework bloomed in the sky.

There was another cry of surprise from the rear of the team, as another section of the plank road had "collapsed". The queue on the plank road had already begun to fall into chaos, and the soldiers took off their cold and hard armor and began to walk along the mountain to the road below the plank road.

There is no abyss underneath this plank road. It is just that the original road was difficult to walk on, so it was raised with wood.

Seeing the chaos in the army, Lu Jing, who was extremely experienced in the battlefield, shouted to Li Lu, Yan Zhenqing and others: "Your Majesty, this battle cannot be fought. Please get off the plank road and go east alone. Return to Shangzhou to make plans. I will cover the rear!"

"Your Majesty, let's go. If you don't leave now, the enemy army will come."

Yan Zhenqing sighed and persuaded.

The current situation cannot be called a failure. It is just that if the army is really defeated and the situation becomes chaotic to the point where everyone tramples on each other, then we will not be able to escape even if we want to.

The so-called chance of survival lies in the generals' prediction. Whoever predicts correctly and tries to escape before the army collapses will be able to escape.

This is the essence he learned from Fang Youde.

"go!"

Li Lu did not hesitate. He took the rope handed to him by Yan Zhenqing, stepped carefully on the mountain wall, and came to the ground below the plank road.

This was originally a small river that was only ankle-deep. There are many such rivers in the mountains, and they freeze in winter. This road is full of pebbles of different sizes, making it very difficult to walk.

But now it has come to a life-and-death moment. Even if Li Lu is asked to swallow feces, he has no right to refuse, not to mention that the road is difficult to walk on.

The group didn't even have time to ride their horses. There was only one word in their minds: run!

The emperor had fled, so the soldiers would certainly not act like fools. The Jingzhou troops on the plank road followed suit, all got off the plank road, and ran eastward along the stream, the direction they came from.

The entire valley was filled with soldiers fleeing for their lives, but this was only the beginning of the disaster!
Since they could think of jumping down from the plank road to escape, how could the enemy not think of it?
All the ambushers hiding on the mountain rushed out. The bandit soldiers, wearing red imperial army uniforms and white scarves around their necks, came from the west, from the mountain where they were ambushed, and surrounded and pursued them from three sides!
Lu Jiong was so frightened that he immediately had two horses brought to the bottom of the plank road and let two trusted men ride the horses to escape, and he also specially asked them to wear red cloaks!

"Catch him alive! The one riding the horse is Li Lu!"

Lu Jiong shouted loudly!

He fought and retreated, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Yan Zhenqing and Li Lu running far away.

"Shout with me."

Lu Jiong gave instructions to the soldiers around him.

"Catch him alive! The one riding the horse is Li Lu!"

The battlefield was in chaos, and it was soon unclear who was friend and foe. But Lu Jing saw that many of the bandits were chasing the two horses.

He felt a little relieved.

It is impossible to deploy a large number of troops in this area, and the number of people fighting on both sides should be similar.

As long as Li Lu and Yan Zhenqing could get to Shangzhou, they would have escaped. If they died, the Jingxiang regime would probably fall apart.

Lu Jiong thought secretly in his heart.

(End of this chapter)