The Flourishing Tang Dynasty: Beginning with Marrying Yang Yuhuan

Chapter 49: Alarming the Snake
After Gao Xianzhi left, Li Heng traveled around the various states in Hexi for a while before slowly setting off on his journey.

Gao Shi escorted Li Heng and his men all the way to Guazhou and said, "Your Highness, if we go any further, we will be out of the Hexi territory. To the north of Guazhou is Xizhou, which is under the jurisdiction of the Beiting Jiedushi, and to the west is under the jurisdiction of Anxi."

Li Ying nodded and said, "Thank you for taking care of me along the way."

Gao Shi is now Wang Zhongsi's chief secretary. Unless there are special circumstances, there is no need for Li Heng to use him casually.

Therefore, Gao Shi could only be sent here.

"Your Highness, you are too polite. If it weren't for Your Highness, I would still be running around now." Gao Shi said hurriedly.

Li Ying smiled and said, "Dafu is good at writing poems. How about you write a poem for me as we are parting?"

"How dare I disobey your highness's request?" Gao Shi bowed to Li Heng, and after a moment's silence, he said:
"The traveler faces the flying dandelion, with a golden whip pointing at the iron horse. His fame is thousands of miles away, but his worries are in a cup. The enemy is in the north of Yanzhi, and Qincheng is in the east of Taibai. Don't be sad when your soul leaves, just look at the mighty sword!"

Li Heng was not familiar with this poem, but he did not care. He praised it, saying, "It is a good poem. I will recite it often."

"Your Highness, thank you for your praise," Gao Shi said modestly, "I am here and will be at your disposal at any time."

"Okay." Li Heng nodded.

After the two finished talking, Aqisi, who was riding a horse in front, asked, "Your Highness Prince Shou, are you going north or west?"

To the north is Beiting.

The current Jiedushi of Beiting is Zhang Song. Zhang Song is not very famous in history. We only know that when he was the Jiedushi of Beiting, he participated in the war between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo in Xiaoboluo. He was the kind of person who followed the rules, was obedient and did not cause trouble.

For such a person, Li Heng does not need to deliberately explain anything to him, he just needs to maintain normal communication with him.

Therefore, Li Heng did not plan to go to Beiting to make arrangements first.

Li Ying said, "Let's go west, to Anxi first."

Yang Yuhuan, who was beside Li Ying, said, "In that case, Princess Aqisi is traveling with us, and we can still travel together for a while."

Li Heng nodded and let Yang Yuhuan help him into the carriage.

……

Anxi, Qiuci.

As the seat of Anxi, Qiuci should have been Gai Jiayun's base camp. However, Gai Jiayun was not in Qiuci at that time, so he did not come to greet Li Heng. Only Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing happily brought people to greet him.

Li Ying exchanged a few words with Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing, then sat down at the table together.

At the banquet, Li Ying asked Gao Xianzhi, "Is General Gao doing well these days?"

"Everything is fine." Gao Xianzhi's face was full of smiles, indicating that he had already gained real power.

"That's good." Li Ying smiled back and raised his glass with Gao Xianzhi.

Gao Xianzhi took a sip of wine and took the initiative to report: "General Gai heard a few days ago that there was a Tibetan caravan nearby, so he personally led people to attack it, so he did not come to greet Your Highness."

Li Heng nodded and said, "Besides that, what else is General Gai busy with?"

Gao Xianzhi replied: "I heard that he is collecting some famous music and preparing to present it to the saint."

"That's a good thing." Li Ying nodded with a smile.

I have to say that Gai Jiayun has some skills.

Fighting a war would allow Li Longji to see his strength.

Then he collected some music and presented it to Li Longji to please him.

As we all know, Li Longji was a man full of artistic talent and a famous music performer. In history, the reason why Li Longji fell in love with Yang Yuhuan was not only because Yang Yuhuan was beautiful, but also because Yang Yuhuan was a real performer. At this moment, Li Longji might be giving a concert in the palace.

In fact, Li Heng is not a petty person. If there is no other reason, he would not care if Gai Jiayun did not come to greet him.

However, whether for the sake of his country or his own interests, he must decide the outcome with Gai Jiayun.

After the banquet, Li Heng said to Xin Yunjing, "Post a notice saying that I am here on behalf of the emperor to inspect Anxi. Anyone who breaks the law, from officials to common people, should turn themselves in immediately and I will give them lenient treatment. Anyone who has been wronged can also file a complaint in person. No matter who you accuse, I will exempt them from punishment and handle matters impartially."

"Yes." Xin Yunjing took the order and took a few soldiers to do the work.

Li Heng's behavior was a bit too high-profile, but Li Heng wanted to be high-profile in order to alert the enemy.

As soon as Xin Yunjing and his men posted the notice, people started talking about it.

"Can we trust His Royal Highness Prince Shou to handle this impartially? Are you trying to trick us again?"

"I heard that His Royal Highness Prince Shou handled a major case in Lanzhou and killed several high-ranking officials. This should be credible."

"Not necessarily. There is no official who would go around looking for trouble. I think the Prince of Shou is probably just making a show of thunder without raining."

"Be careful with your words, be careful with your words!"

"Let's see what happens first. If Prince Shou can really handle another big case this time, I will trust him in the future."

……

Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing sent Li Heng to the inn. After leaving, Feng Changqing said, "I didn't expect that His Royal Highness Prince Shou would start to make drastic changes as soon as he entered Anxi. In recent years, General Gai has been in control of everything in Anxi, accepting bribes, selling and buying official positions, and only appointing relatives and punishing enemies. If His Royal Highness Prince Shou really finds out about these things, General Gai might..."

Gao Xianzhi said, "It is precisely because we did not give gifts to General Gai that we have not been promoted. Before, we did not tell His Highness all these things, which was already a repayment for the friendship we had with General Gai over the past few years. We are ashamed of His Highness. Now His Highness is acting alone for the sake of his country and the people. If he does this, regardless of the kindness His Highness has shown us, I will definitely follow him."

The meaning of Gao Xianzhi's words was very clear. Although he and Gai Jiayun did not get along, Gai Jiayun was his former superior after all, so he chose not to report him.

But if Li Heng found out anything, he would completely obey Li Heng.

Feng Changqing also agreed with Gao Xianzhi's words and said, "Brother, you are right. I will listen to you."

……

……

……

On this side, Gai Jiayun felt something was not good when he heard that Li Ying posted a notice as soon as he arrived in Kucha.

For Gai Jiayun, all his attention was on how to please Li Longji and make money. As for Li Heng, he didn't take him seriously.

Although he knew that Li Heng was favored now, he believed that Li Heng was cowardly. Li Longji currently only wanted to use Li Heng to check and balance Crown Prince Li Ying, and would never let Li Heng become the crown prince.

As long as he could please Li Longji and Li Heng could not succeed to the throne, it didn't matter if he, as the most remote vassal commander of the Tang Dynasty, had a little "character".

It has to be said that his idea was correct in history.

It’s a pity that Li Ying is no longer the original Li Ying.

So, after Gai Jiayun attacked the Tubo caravan, he hurried back and asked to see Li Heng as soon as possible.

Li Heng was resting in the inn at that time. When he heard Gai Jiayun wanted to see him, he immediately summoned him.

As soon as they met, Gai Jiayun immediately bowed and said, "Greetings to His Highness Prince Shou. I was recently on a mission to attack the Tibetan army, so I was unable to greet Your Highness. Please forgive me."

"General, you are too kind." Li Heng smiled and helped Gai Jiayun up, saying, "General, we attacked Tubo to protect the country and the people. This is a military and national event. How can you delay it just to welcome me? Please take a seat."

(End of this chapter)