Early Tang Dynasty: forge ahead

Chapter 447 Can’t afford to lose
Li Dejian did not wait long.

Li Dejian was close to Li Chengqian and was involved in a rebellion case in the past.

This matter was extremely serious at that time.

After all, Li Chengqian was the first crown prince of the Zhenguan period and sat on the throne for sixteen years.

It is true that Li Shimin doted on Li Tai, but he did not neglect Li Chengqian at all and gave him every bit of power.

The princelings’ power back then was extremely huge, both overtly and covertly.

Whoever gets involved will be in big trouble.

By now Li Chengqian’s bones are almost turned to ashes, and Li Zhi has been emperor for more than ten years.

Li Chengqian’s princeling party?
What else?

Li Zhi was a narrow-minded person and would not dwell on things that happened more than ten or twenty years ago.

What's more, Li Zhi was a nobody back then, and the fight for the throne was between Li Chengqian and Li Tai.

If Li Dejian was Li Tai's man, Chen Qingsi would have to think twice. After all, after Li Chengqian's rebellion failed, Li Tai suddenly realized that there was another opponent, Li Zhi, and he threatened his sinister ninth brother many times.

The relationship between the two is not good.

But Li Chengqian did not regard Li Zhi as his rival, and thought that he would not be too bad to this younger brother who was raised by his father.

There was no conflict between Li Chengqian and Li Zhi.

Since there is no contradiction, I won't be bothered by what happened in the past.

As for why Li Dejian has been trapped in Suzhou until now, there is only one reason: no one cares and the world has forgotten about it.

Li Jing can be regarded as a top-notch military figure in Chinese history, on the same level as Sun Wu, Wu Qi, and Han Xin. However, his descendants did not inherit even 30% of their father's abilities and remained unknown.

Li Jing was content to keep himself safe and alone. After his death, no one paved the way for his descendants, resulting in no one realizing that such a person existed.

Chen Qingsi made a few moves in Qianfeng County to make Li Dejian's name appear in Li Zhi's sight.

Li Jing's contribution to the Tang Dynasty is self-evident. His prestige in the military is unmatched except for the former King of Qin of the Tang Dynasty.

There was no reason for Li Zhi to refuse such a small favor in exchange for his great reputation, so he directly issued an edict, pardoning Li Dejian and restoring his civilian status in recognition of Duke Wei's contributions to the Tang Dynasty.

********
The war drums roar, roar, roar.

The elite soldiers were dressed in military uniforms and holding weapons. As the deafening drumbeats came, teams of elite soldiers strode forward.

Step by step, the friction of armor and the sound of footsteps on the ground merged together.

They lined up in the middle of the field, flexing and stretching in an alternating pattern, turning head to tail and stabbing each other back and forth, with murderous intent and tremendous momentum.

Chen Qingsi looked at the scene in front of him and connected it with the battlefield in his memory.

This is the most famous dance in the Tang Dynasty, "The Qin Emperor's Battle Music", the real "The Qin Emperor's Battle Music".

"The Music of Qin Wang Breaking the Formation" was renamed "The Music of Divine Power Breaking the Formation" during the reign of Emperor Gaozong.

The reason for the name change is that Emperor Gaozong made certain modifications to "The Qin King's Battle Music".

According to records, there were 128 musicians playing the music of "Qin Wang Breaking the Formation", 2,000 cavalrymen, and 3,000 to 5,000 infantrymen depending on the situation.

That is to say, the real "Qin Wang Po Zhen Music" must be at least 5,000 in scale, and requires a huge venue to be performed.

Where in reality is there such a large venue and opportunity to perform the complete "Qin Wang Po Zhen Music"?
Therefore, it was reduced to a large-scale martial arts performance with 500 people, and the name was changed to "The Music of Divine Power Breaking the Formation".

Now they are on the Qilu Plain, still having such a grand celebration, on this night when they have finished the Fengshan ceremony and are preparing to return.

The complete "Qin Wang's Battle Music" was presented to the public as the finale.

Chen Qingsi was just watching the excitement before, and he just felt his blood boiling, just like the feeling of people in later generations when they heard the charge, which made people have an instinctive feeling to charge forward.

After years of training in Baekje, Chen Qingsi's military skills have doubled, and he has seen that this "Qin Wang Pozhen Music" is a fusion of military formations into dance. It has both the ritual sense of interweaving and coordination on the battlefield and the tension of dance.

Chen Qingsi watched the sword and shield soldiers, spearmen, archers, and Modao teams interweaving and coordinating with each other, and watched the cavalry move in a regular pattern on the left and right wings.

This is exactly the infantry-tank coordination of this era.

Chen Qingsi knew very well that most of the military formations of the Tang Dynasty were created by Li Jing. He had seen various military formations left by Li Jing in the Ministry of War. He felt the utmost respect for the god of war whom he had never met.

The layman watches the excitement, while the expert sees the details.

Amr ibn al-As, who was once as famous as Khalid ibn al-Walid, the Sword of Allah, looked at the "Music of the Qin King Breaking the Formation" in front of him with emotion.

Looking at the coordination of many arms, Amur's throat moved and his face gradually turned pale.

Was the Arab Empire militarily strong?
Of course it's strong!

In the entire West, it is an invincible existence.

But when it comes to military theory, the sum of the West’s current knowledge reserves in this area is not even worthy of being a disciple of the East.

The seventeenth day of the first lunar month, the first year of Qianfeng.

The Fengshan team began to return.

Zhou Kui caught up with Chen Qingsi on the way.

"My Lord, everything is fine. Lord Li gave you a letter of thanks!"

Chen Qingsi nodded slightly, took the letter handed to him by Zhou Kui, and was about to read it.

But Zhou Kui whispered, "There were some minor incidents on our trip to Suzhou, and we used the power of our Lord."

Chen Qingsi kept moving his hands and whispered, "Speak!"

Zhou Kui said, "It's about Zhang Ling..." He elaborated on the relationship between Zhang Ling and Li Dejian, and then said, "Zhang Ling is so bold that he dared to send assassins to kill the master for the sake of the mistress. He also coveted the Red Lady, which is really abominable. I wanted to make Zhang Ling break up with Lord Li and take the opportunity to teach Zhang Ling a lesson. But I didn't expect Zhang Ling's methods to be so extreme... If I don't let Lord Li eliminate his resentment, I'm afraid that Lord Li will not be able to bear the blow."

"No problem!" Chen Qingsi didn't care and just asked, "How did Zhang Ling end up?"

Zhou Kui was a little excited, and said: "He had his father beaten half to death with rattan, and then tied up naked and taken to the door of Li's house, and knelt down to beg for forgiveness from Lord Li. Lord Li made him kneel at the door for more than an hour before letting him go. Lord Li was soft-hearted, if it were me, I would have made him kneel for a while longer."

Chen Qingsi said: "This is not good news."

Zhou Kui was a little surprised.

Chen Qingsi whispered, "This shows that my future father-in-law has not yet accepted his identity and dares not offend the Zhang family. If he accepts me, no matter how he tortures Zhang Ling, the Zhang family won't dare to say a word."

He called Li Dejian his future father-in-law, and it was obvious that he was determined to win the white lotus in his heart.

Zhou Kui cursed and said, "He got it easy. It's only because the master is kind that Zhang Ling has been able to live in peace until now."

Chen Qingsi asked unexpectedly: "Is he really living a comfortable life?"

"Uh!" Zhou Kui thought about it and it seemed that he was not so comfortable. With Zhang Ling's family background, the high hopes that the Zhang family had placed on him, and the resources poured into him, he could only hang out with people like Li Dejian and talk big. As a direct bloodline, Zhang Ling's father, the eldest grandson of the Zhang family, was even deprived of the position of head of the family by the clan elders and replaced by the second branch.

Chen Qingsi looked at the letter in his hand. There were indeed words of gratitude from Li Dejian in the letter, but the tone was a bit formal, with a sense of an elder thanking a younger generation.

Perhaps intellectually, he still couldn't give up his dignity, but in his heart he had compromised to some extent.

After all, who doesn’t want to go higher?
Besides, Li Dejian had already become a laughing stock in Suzhou, and he had also offended the Zhang family. He didn't dare to take action openly, but who knew what he was doing secretly?
It will be difficult for him to achieve success in Suzhou.

Seeing the good news in the letter, Chen Qingsi felt relaxed and said with a smile, "Who do you think leaked the news that Zhang Ling sent someone to assassinate me? Why didn't they spread it earlier or later, but it happened to be spread when I was gaining momentum?"

In fact, Chen Qingsi did not have much aversion to Zhang Ling. Instead, he felt somewhat grateful to him.

In the original situation, some people in the Xiao family did not even think about keeping themselves alive. They just wanted to find a temporary husband for Xiao Miaochen to escape the implicate of Concubine Xiao Shufei. They sent a real killer, and Zhang Lingtian, the proud son, was too well protected by his family. He did not know those who did dirty things, so he hired a group of local bullies.

This gave Chen Qingsi the opportunity to counterattack and disrupted the rhythm of the Xiao family killer, who shot him with an arrow in a hurry.

Chen Qingsi remembered all of this. It can be said that if it weren't for Zhang Ling's mischief, the assassin would have shot him with a cold arrow in a remote place and then thrown him to a place where wild beasts often appeared, and he would have been killed.

From another perspective, Zhang Ling is his savior.

Therefore, as long as the Zhang family could speak nicely and politely later, Chen Qingsi might not have cared about it until now.

But it was obvious that the Zhang family didn't think highly of Chen Qingsi at all, and the apology was only made because of the Xiao family. They were apologizing to the Xiao family, not to him, the real owner.

Chen Qingsi couldn't tolerate this, but he knew he didn't have the ability to take revenge at that time, so he endured it.

Not until he had gained a firm foothold in Chang'an and completely gained power did he spread the story of that year.

Not only did he discipline Zhang Ling and the Zhang family, he also earned himself a reputation for being magnanimous.

The best of both worlds.

There is no need to do many things yourself. As long as you guide some public opinion, you can deal a heavy blow to the other party and stay out of it.

Zhou Kui stopped talking immediately.

Chen Qingsi thought for a moment and said, "Go to Suzhou again, don't show up, just watch from the dark, don't do anything, just wait. If there is any unusual movement, just report it."

Li Dejian has his own power, so I think things will be better for a while.

But this kind of power will not last long, and Chen Qingsi does not want to be a bootlicker, unconditionally licking Li Dejian and letting him gain convenience by relying on his power.

No matter what kind of figure Li Dejian was back then, at least his current performance is not worth a second glance.

If it weren't for Li Hongqing, Chen Qingsi would not have been willing to spend any more effort on him.

He went to great lengths to do all this for Li Hongqing. He didn't want her to suffer any grievances. If he couldn't give her the position of principal wife, he should at least give her a complete marriage, instead of being like a concubine, who didn't need her parents to show up, didn't need any ceremony, and could enter through a small door.

Human nature is greedy. Now it depends on whether Li Dejian can endure and want more.

Even if he really held back, Chen Qingsi had other means. He would not give up until he achieved his goal.

The journey back to Luoyang from Fengshan was much faster...

The Fengshan ceremony was completely over after the "Qin Wang Po Zhen Music".

The goal was not Luoyang or Chang'an. The team that had gathered in Luoyang in advance left the team and dispersed in advance...

Following the team returning west, I was also tired and exhausted during these days. I was eager to go home, so I returned to Luoyang on February 22, in early spring.

After three and a half months, the Fengshan journey officially ended.

That day, Chen Qingsi was studying at home when he received the news that Zhang Jianzhi wanted to see him.

Zhang Jianzhi is Chen Qingsi's confidant and can enter and leave the front hall of Chen's house freely.

When Chen Qingsi was away for some reason, Zhang Jianzhi could entertain guests on behalf of his teacher as a student.

"Let him in!"

"gentlemen!"

Chen Qingsi put down the book in his hand and asked Zhang Jianzhi to take a seat.

The relationship between master and disciple is very deep, and there is less politeness.

Chen Qingsi looked at the other person, waiting for him to state his intentions.

Zhang Jianzhi said: "I just got the news that Li Yifu died of illness. When he learned that he had no hope of being pardoned, Li Yifu was extremely worried and angry. He often cursed Li Chongde and occasionally ridiculed Your Majesty. His words were very unpleasant and he was finally angry to death..."

Chen Qingsi was not surprised to hear this, because in history, Li Yifu was also angered to death because he could not get amnesty.

But the situation is a little different. In history, Li Yifu was given two chances by Li Zhi. One was to demote him to another place, and the first was when Li Zhi persuaded Li Yifu to be more restrained.

After these two times, Li Zhi completely lost trust in Li Yifu and refused to grant him amnesty.

Chen Qingsi was not sure whether Li Zhi would feel sympathy for the most useful knife after he defeated Li Yifu with his appearance. So after he learned about Empress Wu's intention, he used the knife to kill.

Now that Li Yifu has found his rightful home, it is a great thing.

Thinking about the fact that Empress Wu gained nothing from this Fengshan ceremony, and her carefully planned plan to save Li Yifu was also ruined by her, she got the help of the old fox Li Ji, and she smiled inexplicably that in the end, she got a lot of political inheritance, and everything was developing in a good direction.

Chen Qingsi should have been happy, but he had a vague sense of crisis.

As the old saying goes, "Excessive joy brings sorrow", and it is also said that "A blessing in disguise"...

If you want to laugh to the end, the most important thing is to hold back your laughter...

Especially at times like this, we should not take it lightly.

Empress Wu was not an easy person to deal with. The reason why I defeated her time and time again was mainly because I had the upper hand. However, she was in the palace, restricted in her actions, and had no talented people around her to cooperate with her.

You must never be careless with her.

The back garden of Luoyang Palace.

Grandma Yang took out a secret letter from her bosom and handed it to her daughter.

Empress Wu took the secret letter and carefully checked the seal. She only opened it after making sure it was correct.

Grandma Yang was very unhappy when she saw this. She and her daughter had always had a good relationship, but now her daughter was wary of her, which she couldn't accept.

Empress Wu was busy explaining: "Mother, please don't misunderstand. It's not that I don't trust you. It's just that I'm restricted everywhere and others have taken the lead everywhere. There must be something wrong. I don't know where to go now. I can only be cautious..."

She paused and said, "Daughter, I can't afford to lose anymore!"

Looking at the letter in her hand, Empress Wu walked to the candle and burned it.

Those charming eyes were filled with fire...

(End of this chapter)