The Flourishing Tang Dynasty: Beginning with Marrying Yang Yuhuan

Chapter 230: Deception
After listening for a while, Li Ying felt that although Lei Haiqing's pipa skills had reached perfection, they seemed to be lacking something compared to Yang Yuhuan.

However, Li Heng did not delve into the matter further and turned to ask An Lushan: "I heard that General An is an excellent dancer. He must have practiced a lot."

An Lushan said: "Your Highness, I am too kind. I haven't practiced much either."

"Really?" Li Ying turned his head and looked at An Lushan, and asked, "Does General An dance when he performs Zoroastrian sacrifices?"

An Lushan was slightly startled, then laughed and said, "Your Highness, you are joking. How can a priest dance?"

Li Ying glanced at He Jin and said, "Last night, a dozen assassins tried to kill Miss He. They were dressed in pure white and seemed to be Zoroastrians. Miss He also believed in Zoroastrianism, but she couldn't dance. I thought the assassins tried to kill Miss He because she didn't dance during the sacrifice."

Li Heng's words didn't sound logical, but An Lushan understood what Li Heng was hinting at. He trembled in his heart and his expression changed slightly, but he recovered immediately and said, "Your Highness is really joking. Zoroastrianism advocates fraternity and freedom. How can you kill believers just because they can't dance?"

"That's what I thought." Li Heng nodded. "Three of the assassins escaped last night. When Jingzhao Prefecture catches them, I'll go ask them why they wanted to kill Miss He."

Wang Zhongsi, who was standing by, got the general idea and said with a smile, "I have followed Your Highness since Longyou. I know that Your Highness is an expert in criminal justice and has a lot of experience in catching murderers. How could someone escape from Your Highness's hands?"

"The assassin last night was too cunning," Li Heng looked towards the stage. The performer on the stage had now turned into a charming woman. Li Heng stared at the woman in a daze and said with a smile, "Just like the performer on the stage."

Wang Zhongsi and An Lushan looked at the woman on the stage together.

After playing "Green Waist", the woman stood up and bowed. Her graceful figure and charming eyes made the audience scream.

Lei Haiqing, who was competing with the woman, walked up to her, crossed his arms and saluted, saying, "Miss, you are a great pianist. I lost."

The woman returned the greeting and said, "Young eunuch is too modest. In terms of zither skills, you are not inferior to me."

Young Eunuch is an elegant name for Lei Haiqing.

Lei Haiqing was stunned when he heard what this "woman" said.

Because the voice of this "woman" was that of a man, and she claimed to be a young monk.

The "woman" replied to Lei Haiqing and immediately took off her makeup, revealing her true face.

Sure enough, it was a monk.

Now all the audience except Li Ying were shocked.

Wang Zhongsi asked in confusion, "Your Highness, did you know that he was a monk?"

Li Ying said: "I only found out halfway through."

Li Ying began to feel that there was something missing in Lei Haiqing's piano playing, but he couldn't figure it out for a moment. It was not until the monk came on stage that Li Ying reacted.

Lei Haiqing’s thing is tenderness.

"Green Waist" requires tenderness.

However, although the monk's piano playing expressed tenderness, it was far from being as soul-deep as Yang Yuhuan's playing.

So Li Ying became suspicious, and after a careful look, he finally saw the monk's true face.

Wang Zhongsi said: "This monk was cunning and treacherous, but he still failed to escape your Highness's eyes. How could those assassins escape?"

"But he deceived me for a while after all." Li Heng smiled slightly and turned to An Lushan, "General An is also a Zoroastrian. If you have any news about the assassin, I hope General An will tell me."

"Of course." An Lushan replied quickly, but he was thinking in his heart.

Li Heng was already well-known, and with Wang Zhongsi's support, An Lushan was certain that the three assassins had not escaped, but had been captured by Li Heng. But Li Heng captured them and said they had escaped. What was his purpose?

While An Lushan was thinking, he heard Li Ying say to He Jin, "Miss He, with General An's help, even if we can't catch the assassin for a while, others won't dare to assassinate you again. Why don't you thank General An quickly?"

He Jin was very disgusted with An Lushan, the fat man who wanted to kill her, but she couldn't refuse Li Heng's instructions, so she had to go up and say, "Thank you, Marshal An Jie."

"You're welcome, you're welcome." An Lushan responded, and at the same time "understood" what Li Heng meant.

Li Heng had arrested someone, but the evidence was not enough to prosecute him, so he came to negotiate with him and both sides took a step back.

An Lushan thought he had figured out the connection, and couldn't help asking, "May I ask, Your Highness, who is this He Jin to you?"

Li Ying smiled and said, "She is a citizen of the Tang Dynasty, and I still owe her money. Isn't she asking me for money?"

"I see." An Lushan nodded, stood up and saluted, saying, "Your Highness, the morning performance is over. I have something else to do, so I will not accompany you."

Li Ying said, "General An, take care."

"Yes." An Lushan replied respectfully, saluted Wang Zhongsi with his arms crossed, and left with his men.

After An Lushan walked away, Wang Zhongsi said in a deep voice: "This An Lushan is getting more and more outrageous!"

Li Heng asked, "What did he talk about with General Wang?"

"It's better not to mention some rude things." Wang Zhongsi sighed and turned to his most important matter, saying: "Shibao City is very difficult to conquer, but Your Highness was able to capture it with a small number of sacrifices. I wonder what tactics he used?"

Li Ying asked, "General Wang, do you still remember Huangfu Weiming's hidden fire mine?"

"Remember." Wang Zhongsi nodded.

Li Heng said: "I found someone who made hidden fire bombs and quickly made some..."

Wang Zhongsi was puzzled and said, "It seems that the power of the hidden fire mine cannot blow up the stone fortress."

Li Heng smiled and said, "Although I can't blow it up, I can still scare it. Besides, when I attacked Shibao City, the sky fire happened to fall. This is God's blessing on the Tang Dynasty."

"That's just like the surprise attack by Prince Xin'an, it was unexpected." Wang Zhongsi thought, "It seems that it will be difficult to replicate."

Before Li Heng came, he had already thought about how to reply to Wang Zhongsi.

Although he wanted to help Wang Zhongsi emotionally, he couldn't do so rationally.

Because if he helped Wang Zhongsi capture Shibao City and repel Tubo, his power would not be able to expand eastward.

So he could only keep it secret.

But you can't hide it too much, you need to mix truth and falsehood.

Wang Zhongsi didn't know what Li Heng was thinking, so he continued, "I don't want to take Shibao City, not only because it's difficult to take, but also because taking Shibao City is just the beginning. After taking Shibao City, we have to cross Dafeichuan and march to Qinghai Lake and the Yellow River. Back then, the Duke of Pingyang was defeated at Dafeichuan, and 100,000 soldiers died. Although I am good at using troops, it also requires countless soldiers to sacrifice their lives, and I really can't bear it. I think the best strategy for Tubo is to attack their plans and wait for them to start a civil strife, and then take advantage of the situation to advance."

After hearing this, Li Heng had a deeper understanding of Wang Zhongsi.

Although Wang Zhongsi was a military general, he was not fond of expanding his territory by force. In essence, he was a bit like Zhang Jiuling.

Li Ying asked, "General Wang still doesn't plan to capture Shibao City this time?"

(End of this chapter)