The Flourishing Tang Dynasty: Beginning with Marrying Yang Yuhuan

Chapter 35 Employment
"No." The dancer also spoke in Tang language, "I am a citizen of Bukhara. I just hate that your Tang emperor does not help Bukhara, so I want to kill you, the Tang emperor's most beloved son."

Li Heng said: "If you kill me, the Tang Dynasty will not only not help Bukhara, but will destroy you instead."

The dancer raised her eyes and laughed when she heard this, saying, "As our Princess Aqisi said, if I really kill Your Highness, everyone will just think that I am a secret agent of the Arabs. At that time, you Tang people will vent your anger on the Arabs and help us to take down the Khanate."

When Li Heng heard this, he also laughed and said, "If you didn't say that, I might think so, but now that you say it, I won't believe it."

These words made the dancer's face turn cold.

Li Ying continued:
"Let me guess who sent you. I just said that Bukhara couldn't have sent you, so you were most likely sent by the Arabs."

"But, although the Arabs pretended to obey the Tang Dynasty, they did not dare to send people to kill me. After all, if they did not kill me, the most they could do was to withdraw from the territory of Bactria. If they killed me, they might be destroyed."

"Except for Bukhanna and the Arabs, the biggest beneficiaries of this are Tibet and the Turks. Tibet and the Turks have always wanted to win over the Arabs and Bukhanna, but Bukhanna has submitted to the Tang Dynasty, while the Arabs have always been vacillating and wavering."

"If you kill me this time, whether the Tang Dynasty vents its anger on Bukhara or the Arabs, it will be a sure win for Tubo and the Turks."

"Am I right?"

Li Ying looked at the dancer with a smile on his face.

The dancer no longer had a smile on her face, and she angrily said, "You cunning Tang people, you can say whatever you like."

Li Ying smiled and said, "You speak Tang language quite well, so you should know a lot about the Tang Dynasty. In this case, you should also know the criminal laws of the Tang Dynasty. If you confess now, you can suffer less torture."

"No matter how you torture me, I will just die in the end." The dancer raised her head, looking ready to die.

Seeing her like this, Li Heng became suspicious. After thinking for a while, he said to Gao Shi, "Daf, take her away and keep a good watch on her. Don't let her escape again."

"Yes." Gao Shiying said, and asked two soldiers to take the dancer away. After hesitating for a moment, he continued, "Your Highness, the day that the Hu people escaped was the day when Your Highness announced the return of the land."

Gao Shi's words explain why the Hu people were robbed.

"So that's how it is." Li Heng nodded and said, "By the way, there's no need to torture this dancer."

Gao Shi said: "Yes."

After giving instructions for the assassination, Li Heng came to the prince of Bactria and stood there for a while. Then he walked to the princess of Bactria and asked, "Your name is Aqisi?"

Aqisi said: "Yes."

Li Heng said, "Before the truth is revealed, you are still suspected. So until the truth is revealed, you must stay in Lanzhou and are not allowed to leave the city. Also, check your delegation carefully. I don't want this to happen again."

"If this matter can never be solved, will we stay here forever?" Aqisi looked at Li Heng, "Our country can't hold on for much longer."

Li Heng said: "Then you should pray that I can find out the truth about this matter as soon as possible."

After saying that, he walked out.

Yang Yuhuan, Gao Shi, Xin Yunjing, Gao Xianzhi, and Feng Changqing followed out.

When they got outside, Gao Shi asked, "Your Highness, do you really need to investigate this matter before dealing with the affairs of Bukhara?"

Gao Shi followed Li Heng to handle some of the things that happened after the Lanzhou case. He knew what Li Heng had done before and knew that Li Heng would not be so stupid, so his questions were not only doubtful, but also asking for advice. Li Heng would naturally not be confused about the importance of the case now. He already had an idea in his mind about what case he wanted to investigate, but he still asked: "How do you think the matter of Balhana should be handled?"

Gao Xianzhi said: "The Arabs are wavering between Tubo, Turks and the Tang Dynasty. It's time for them to see the military might of the Tang Dynasty!"

What Gao Xianzhi meant was to beat him up!

Gao Shi said: "But the Arabs are not weak. If a war breaks out, Tubo and Turks will surely come to their aid. In this case, we will need at least 40,000 troops, and the four towns of Longyou Road will need to cooperate with each other. However, such a deployment of troops must be reported to the Ministry of War and presented to the emperor."

The meaning of Gao Shi's words is very clear.

If Li Longji really wanted to start a war, he would give the order directly in Chang'an and would not leave the matter to Li Heng.

Since it has been thrown to Li Heng, we hope that Li Heng can solve it within his own ability.

Li Heng knew all about these things and said with a smile, "You two both have a point. It is not appropriate to use troops against the Arabs and let Tubo and Turks reap the benefits. But we cannot not fight. If we don't fight, the Arabs may not withdraw from Bukhara."

"Then what should we do?" Gao Shi took the lead and asked the questions that others were wondering.

Li Heng said: "The Arabs are wavering. They are afraid of both the Tang Dynasty and Tubo and the Turks. If that's the case, why don't we take action against Tubo? We have been fighting with Tubo frequently in the past two years. We don't need to report a surprise attack to the Ministry of War."

Gao Shi understood that Li Heng's move was a combination of killing the chicken to scare the monkey and besieging Wei to save Zhao.

Gao Shi suddenly realized, "So your highness deliberately left the people of Bukhara here to paralyze the enemy."

Li Heng nodded, took out his own imperial seal, handed it to Gao Xianzhi, and said: "General Gao, take my imperial seal to Hexi to find General Wang Zhongsi and ask him to do meritorious service, and then go to Anxi and ask Gai Jiayun to ask the Arabs to withdraw their troops..."

Having said that, Li Ying thought about it again.

When Wang Zhongsi takes office as a new official, he will definitely take advantage of Tubo to establish himself and make a name for himself, but it is hard to say about Gai Jiayun.

Gai Jiayun is a man of decent abilities but poor character. He will try to obey any order he can.

Therefore, Li Heng added: "If General Gai Jiayun does not go, will General Gao dare to go?"

"Of course." Gao Xianzhi was full of confidence, "Even if I'm alone, I can go to the Arab Empire."

"Well, General Gao is indeed a brave and courageous hero." Li Heng praised him and continued, "But General Gao holds my imperial seal. Even if he doesn't go, he still has to transfer the troops to General Gao. My father has appointed me as the envoy of promotion and demotion and granted me the power to act at my own discretion. This means that at critical moments, I can supervise the local military and political affairs. If he doesn't give me this honor, I will go straight to Anxi."

"Yes." Gao Xianzhi bowed to Li Heng and said, "I have a question, but I don't know if I should ask it or not."

"You said."

"Why does Your Highness trust me so much?"

"Isn't General Gao worthy of such trust?" Li Ying asked back.

Gao Xianzhi was stunned. He had followed Gai Jiayun for such a long time, but Gai Jiayun had never trusted him so much. Therefore, he clasped his fists in gratitude and said, "Thank you for your appreciation, Your Highness. Even if I have to go through fire and water, I will definitely get this done and repay your appreciation."

"General Gao, you are too kind." Li Heng patted Gao Xianzhi on the shoulder, "We are all working for the Tang Dynasty and serving our father."

(End of this chapter)