The Flourishing Tang Dynasty: Beginning with Marrying Yang Yuhuan

Chapter 13: Escape
The group of officers and soldiers who were surrounding the man reacted and immediately bowed and said, "Greetings to His Royal Highness Prince Shou. We were chasing a fugitive and did not intend to alarm His Royal Highness. Please punish us."

After hearing what the soldier said, the man in the sackcloth also knelt down and cried, "I am innocent. Please help me, Your Highness. I am a farmer. I ran away because my family suffered a disaster. I am not a fugitive."

Escape?

Hearing this word, Li Heng recalled that Li Longji had previously issued an edict requiring all fugitives in the country to surrender themselves within this year.

Li Heng ignored the escaped family and the group of soldiers who were surrounding them, and instead asked Xin Yunjing, "Which county is this place under?"

"Your Highness, it's Fenglin County." Xin Yunjing replied.

Fenglin County is under the jurisdiction of Lanzhou, and Lanzhou belongs to Longyou Road, which used to be Hexi.

Li Heng's destination was Hexi, but he couldn't just stay there. It would be best if there was something that could delay him so that he could stay in this area with a legitimate reason.

Now the matter has been brought to his attention.

However, although Li Heng wanted to be in charge, he could not interfere casually because it was not within his authority. He could only take one step at a time and see what happened.

Li Heng gathered his thoughts and said to the group of soldiers who were rounding up the fugitive, "My father has issued an order that all fugitives in the country must surrender within this year. If he is really just a fugitive, he can surrender within this year. You should not round him up."

"This"

The leading sergeant seemed very embarrassed.

Li Heng asked, "Why? Did he commit other crimes?"

"No, no." The chief denied.

He was just a fugitive, but this group of officers and soldiers actually went against orders to capture him, which shows that there are other hidden secrets.

Li Heng looked at the group of soldiers and the escaped household, and thought to himself: "Looking at this situation, if I leave, these soldiers will definitely round up the escaped household again. If I were the escaped household, the best thing to do would be to follow me and find a way to beg me."

Thinking of this, Li Heng changed his tone and said coldly to the officers and soldiers who were surrounding him, "Why don't you retreat? Do you really want to stop my carriage?"

"I don't dare to wait."

The chief kowtowed respectfully, glanced at the escaped householder, and reluctantly retreated with his men.

After shouting for everyone to leave, Li Heng and his companions continued to move forward.

When the fugitive saw Li Heng leaving like this, he was angry and afraid. After thinking for a while, he reluctantly followed him from a distance.

Xin Yunjing saw that the runaway had followed him, so he came to the front of Li Heng's carriage and said, "Your Highness, the runaway followed us. He must have really suffered some injustice. Would you like to help him?"

Although Xin Yunjing came from a military family, he was an upright person and cared about the people.

Li Heng lifted the curtain of the carriage and replied, "General, how are you going to help him? Are you going to interfere in local politics? I am only here for a trip, not an inspection."

After hearing what Li Heng said, Xin Yunjing also felt that it was indeed difficult for them to take action, and said unwillingly: "Then are we just going to sit back and do nothing?"

"If something serious happened to him, he would not give up this hope. He would talk to me about it if he could come to Lanzhou with me." Li Heng said and lowered the car curtain.

That evening, Li Ying and his party arrived in Lanzhou.

As soon as they entered the city, Du Xiwang, the governor of Longyou who governed Lanzhou, and other officials of Lanzhou came to greet them at the city gate. When they saw Li Heng's carriage, they all bowed and said in unison, "Greetings to His Royal Highness Prince Shou and Princess."

When Li Heng and his group of five left Chang'an, they did not make a public announcement. But when they were escorted by guards, it was difficult not to make a public announcement. They could only make a big fuss along the way, so that everyone knew where they were. So every time they arrived in a city, there were officials to greet them.

Li Ying was helped down from the carriage by Yang Yuhuan, and came to the front of the crowd, saying in return: "No need to be polite, I am just passing by here for leisure, not on official business."

Du Xiwang stepped forward immediately and said, "Your Highness has come to Lanzhou with such a noble body. All the officials and people in Lanzhou are honored."

Li Ying smiled and said, "Mr. Du has said too much."

After the two of them exchanged some polite words, Du Xiwang introduced to Li Heng the people who came to welcome the emperor one by one. In addition to officials such as the Lanzhou Governor, the Chief Clerk, and the Sima, there were also two special people.

The two are Wang Zhongsi and Huangfu Weiming.

Both of them were famous generals during the reign of Li Longji. Both of them had served as military governors in history, but they had not yet become rich.

Li Heng wanted to develop quietly, and recruiting capable ministers and famous generals was one of the steps. Moreover, it would be best if the capable ministers and famous generals he wanted to recruit had not yet become successful at this time, because if they had already become successful and ranked among the ministers, it would be difficult to recruit them.

So Li Heng paid attention to these two people and thought in his mind: "Wang Zhongsi is brave and resourceful, loyal and upright, and has no one to rely on at the moment. This person can be considered as a key person. Huangfu Weiming is very capable, but unfortunately, he is from the same clan as Huangfu Bin and has already relied on Li Heng. Let's see how he acts."

Li Heng was thinking in his mind, but his face was still smiling. He said to Wang Zhongsi and Huangfu Weiming: "I have heard of your great names for a long time. Last December, you defeated Tubo and became famous. General Wang led the troops and killed thousands of people. He seized tens of thousands of sheep and horses. My father also praised your bravery."

Last December was the day when Li Ying and Yang Yuhuan got married, and it was also the day when Li Ying was diagnosed with a knotty pulse.

Wang Zhongsi thought that at this time, Li Ying's full attention should be on the flowers and the moon and his body, but he did not expect that Li Ying was so clear about what was happening thousands of miles away.

Wang Zhongsi said hurriedly: "Your Highness is too kind. Although the Tibetans were defeated in Xincheng, their power has not diminished. They are still eyeing us covetously. The border threat has not been eliminated. How can I call you a brave general?"

"No," Li Heng shook his head. "The root cause of the Tubo threat is complex, and it is not something that can be dealt with by one person alone. I believe that given time, the general will be able to defeat Tubo and rebuild the achievements of Wei and Huo. I would rather be a centurion than a scholar. If I were not sick, I would also like to be a soldier for the rest of my life."

Although Li Heng's words were a bit of a lip service, they were spoken sincerely, and he was considerate and praised the soldiers. Wang Zhongsi was very pleased to hear this, and he said, "Your Highness is kind and virtuous, and God will protect you. If you take some time to recuperate, you will be fine."

"Then I'll take advantage of the general's good words." Li Ying smiled slightly.

Du Xiwang had already prepared a banquet for Li Heng. After a few pleasantries, Li Heng did not hesitate to attend the banquet.

At the banquet.

Fine wine and delicious food, singing and dancing.

Xin Yunjing leaned close to Li Heng's ear and whispered, "Your Highness, the fugitive from Fenglin County seems to have run out of money and is begging downstairs now."

"Really?" Li Heng thought for a moment and whispered, "Call him upstairs. By the way, when he gets upstairs, tell him to ignore what we say and just tell us about his grievances."

"Yes." Xin Yunjing ran downstairs happily.

When he came downstairs, the waiter was chasing the escaped beggar away, saying, "Go away, go away, where did you come from, beggar? We have an honorable person upstairs today. If you disturb him, you will not even be able to beg for food in the future!"

When the fugitive heard this, he looked upstairs, listened to the sounds of singing, dancing and drinking, and burst into tears.

Maybe this is life!
The fugitive closed his eyes, turned around and prepared to leave.

"Wait a moment." Xin Yunjing's voice sounded behind the escaped household, "His Royal Highness Prince Shou asked you to go upstairs."

(End of this chapter)