The Flourishing Tang Dynasty: Beginning with Marrying Yang Yuhuan

Chapter 56 Be Prepared
"Oh?" Li Heng was slightly surprised.

This was a complete surprise for Li Heng.

But what surprised Li Heng was not this, but that Zhou Yuyou actually saw that he wanted to investigate Gai Jiayun.

This is not difficult to see for people around him, but it is not a simple matter for outsiders.

Li Heng paused for a moment and said, "You know that General Gai is the governor of Anxi. If what you said is untrue, it is a false accusation. You should understand the consequences of falsely accusing the governor."

Zhou Yuyou said: "I understand, everything I said is true."

"How can I trust you?" Li Ying asked.

"I loved that girl and wanted to marry me, but my master looked down on her and wouldn't let her marry me. But later..."

Zhou Yuyou paused, as if this past event made him sad, or as if he was hiding something.

After a pause, Zhou Yuyou continued:
General Gai took a liking to her, so my grandfather gave her to General Gai. She heard some secrets from General Gai, and she told me all of them.

Li Ying questioned, "How can General Gai's secrets be heard by others casually?"

"Because she...can't speak." Zhou Yuyou recalled, "She was a girl from a farmer's family in Qiuci. She was born unable to speak and never went to school. In the eyes of others, she was a useless person who could do nothing but dance."

"Can you communicate with her?" Li Ying asked.

There is no standard sign language now, and the mute can only speak by "using metaphors to describe", which is the so-called understanding.

"Yes." Zhou Yuyou nodded, "I also taught her how to read."

"I see."

Li Heng stood up, thought for a while, and said, "I can get the person for you, but not now. If I go to get the person now, it will definitely alert General Gai, and then the evidence of his crime you give me may be useless. If General Gai does not get the punishment he deserves, you will not survive when I leave. You are a smart man, what do you think?"

Zhou Yuyou thought for a while after hearing this, and then said, "I can get the evidence and present it to Your Highness right now."

"You can't go get it." Li Heng shook his head. "Tell me the location and I'll send someone to get it. Not only that, you'll go to jail."

"This..." Zhou Yuyou was stunned and asked doubtfully: "Does His Highness not trust me?"

"That's not the case. If you were General Gai, what would you do?" Li Heng asked back.

Zhou Yuyou thought about it, shook his head, and said, "I can't predict what General Gai is thinking."

Li Heng has been wondering these days how Gai Jiayun would deal with this matter. Until now, he has not seen Gai Jiayun take any action, and he finally understood a little.

He speculated that Gai Jiayun had already understood that Anxi was a place full of holes that could not be patched up, and the more he did, the more mistakes he would make.

Therefore, Gai Jiayun simply did not intervene and let Zhao Cheng muddy the waters. He then sat on the sidelines and watched the fight, waiting for Zhao Cheng to reveal a flaw and then strike him dead with one blow.

Of course, this is just his first experience.

Therefore, Li Heng guessed that Gai Jiayun must have sent someone to monitor him. If he allowed Zhou Yuyou to obtain evidence, once Gai Jiayun knew about it, he would most likely kill him halfway or turn back to silence him.

Li Heng looked at Zhou Yuyou and said, "If you want the girl you love to be alive, you should listen to me."

Zhou Yuyou was a smart man, but he still lacked some experience in politics. He understood Li Heng's words and said, "I will obey your Highness. The things are under the largest Buddha statue in the ninth cave of Kizil."

Li Heng nodded and gave Feng Changqing a look. Feng Changqing said, "Shall I take someone to get it right away?"

Li Ying advised: "General Feng has been on the battlefield for a long time, so he should be very good at confusing the enemy."

What Li Heng meant was to remind him not to let Gai Jiayun's spies know what they were doing.

"I understand. I guarantee that everything will be fine." Feng Changqing was full of confidence. Just as he was about to leave, he couldn't help but turn around and ask, "Your Highness, why haven't you seen General Gao these past two days?"

Before Li Heng could answer, Gao Xianzhi's voice suddenly came from outside the door: "Why, are you afraid that I can't escape?"

After the voice fell, Gao Xianzhi walked into the room and bowed to Li Heng.

Feng Changqing then said, "I am just worried about General Gao."

Gao Xianzhi said, "Go and do your job quickly."

"Yes." Feng Changqing left happily.

Li Ying asked someone to take Zhou Yuyou away first, and then invited Gao Xianzhi to take a seat.

Gao Xianzhi was already used to Li Heng's usual approachability, but he still thanked Li Heng politely before sitting down and saying, "Your Highness, I have obtained the roster of all the soldiers in the Anxi Army, as well as the account books."

Li Heng was delighted when he heard this and said, "General Gao is indeed both wise and brave. It is not easy to get these two lists."

This was another plan arranged by Li Heng. He and Feng Changqing investigated the case in a high-profile manner in order to attract the attention of Gai Jiayun and Zhao Cheng and serve as their assistant.

Gao Xianzhi said, "These rosters and account books were originally managed by the deputy governor, but before Your Highness came, the deputy governor had already gone to Chang'an to report to the Saint on the situation in Anxi over the past year. So these things were taken over by the military commander Zhao Cheng. Zhao Cheng has been busy dealing with Your Highness in recent days, giving me an opportunity to take advantage of it. Therefore, it is not that difficult for me to get them, but it may not take long for them to know."

According to the rules, the border generals of the Tang Dynasty would report to Chang'an regularly, most of the time at the end of the year.

Li Heng had originally thought of stealing a house while Gai Jiayun was reporting on his work, but Gai Jiayun did not go, and instead sent the deputy envoy of the governor to go.

But this was not inevitable, and it didn't matter if I didn't run into Li Heng.

"As long as we get it, it'll be fine." Li Heng paused, "Did General Gao find out anything?"

Gao Xianzhi sighed and said, "According to the roster and account books, I counted the soldiers and horses again and found that there were nearly 3,000 people who were not paid for their services. There were also nearly 2,000 fewer horses than in the account books, and this was after deducting the losses reported in each battle."

Li Heng was a little surprised when he heard this number.

In the whole of Anxi, there were only 30,000 regular soldiers, but they were actually eating up nearly one-tenth of the empty salaries, as well as other war horses and supplies.

At the same time, Li Heng had to admire Gai Jiayun. Even though he had managed to build up the army to this level, he was still able to win more battles than lose in the battle with Tubo.

From this we can see that Gai Jiayun’s military capabilities are really strong.

Li Ying sighed: "General Gai is really an interesting person."

Gao Xianzhi asked, "Your Highness, based on these, can we interrogate him?"

Li Heng shook his head and said, "It's not enough. He can push these things to the deputy envoy, the military commander and the chief secretary. Let's wait and see what General Feng can bring us."

"Yes." Seeing Li Heng so calm, Gao Xianzhi admired Li Heng from the bottom of his heart. He reported back: "As for the Tubo side, I have sent people to Xiaobolü to inquire about the news. There should be a report soon."

(End of this chapter)