The Flourishing Tang Dynasty: Beginning with Marrying Yang Yuhuan

Chapter 59 Ambush
Gao Xianzhi was not worried when he heard this, but was overjoyed. He said, "I will lead people to encircle and suppress them right away."

"No hurry." Li Heng stopped Gao Xianzhi, "Even if they really have an ambush, their target is me. If I don't set off and General Gao takes his men, they will probably withdraw early."

Gao Xianzhi asked: "Then what should we do?"

Li Heng said, "I will act as bait and move slowly, while General Gao will lead his men to attack from behind."

"This..." Gao Xianzhi was a little hesitant.

Communications are not well developed nowadays, and communication is impossible in real time. If something goes wrong along the way and there is a delay, Li Heng may very likely die.

Gao Xianzhi was grateful to Li Heng and admired Li Heng's character, so he was unwilling to let Li Heng take this risk.

Li Heng saw Gao Xianzhi's hesitation and asked, "General Gao, do you think this plan is not feasible?"

"It's feasible," Gao Xianzhi replied, "but Your Highness should not take any risks."

Li Heng was moved to see Gao Xianzhi thinking so much about him, and said, "It's a hundred miles away, so we calculated the time in advance and let General Gao attack half an hour in advance. In this way, I won't be in danger. Half an hour in advance, they shouldn't have time to react."

"That's feasible." Gao Xianzhi agreed.

Li Heng then made arrangements with Gao Xianzhi and acted separately.

……

……

……

Li Heng and Yang Yuhuan took a horse-drawn carriage. Xin Yunjing and Lu Lushuai led dozens of guards, and together with the man who reported the case, they headed towards Ershan Village.

Halfway through the journey, Li Heng stopped the carriage, saying that he was not feeling well and needed to rest.

Everyone knew that Li Heng was ill, so no one doubted his method of delaying time.

Yang Yuhuan helped Li Heng get off the carriage, handed him a few pills in front of everyone, and said, "My dear, take some medicine."

Li Heng was suspicious. Yang Yuhuan clearly knew that he was not sick, so why did he take medicine? But he couldn't say it in front of so many people. He took the pill and put it in his mouth.

Yang Yuhuan considerately brought some water to help Li Heng swallow the medicine.

Li Heng took a bite and found that the medicine handed to him by Yang Yuhuan was sweet, or rather, it was not medicine at all, but sugar.

After resting for a while, they set out again.

Yang Yuhuan helped Li Heng back to the carriage. As soon as they got in, Yang Yuhuan changed her serious look and laughed, and asked in a low voice: "My dear, is it sweet?"

Li Ying asked curiously, "How did you do it?"

Yang Yuhuan whispered, "I made this with Sister Mu Jin. Sister Mu Jin said that you are ill and haven't taken medicine for a long time. Others will inevitably become suspicious, so we made a special pill for you."

Li Ying said, "You guys have thought it through very carefully."

Yang Yuhuan said: "You haven't told me whether it's sweet or not."

Li Ying smiled when he heard this, and moved closer, saying, "You will know if you try it."

Yang Yuhuan put her finger on Li Heng's lips and said, "My dear, you are working, the carriage is bumpy, please be careful."

"That makes sense." Li Heng sat up straight.

As soon as Li Heng sat up straight, Yang Yuhuan suddenly kissed him and said with a naughty smile, "But I have no official business."

……

It was night time when they finally arrived at the canyon that Gao Xianzhi had mentioned.

Li Heng stopped everyone and got off the carriage with Yang Yuhuan.

The canyon was silent at this time.

Li Heng was confused and thought, "According to the time, Gao Xianzhi should be here to greet me. Could something have really happened?" Just as Li Heng was thinking, he suddenly heard the sound of a large group of horses marching in the front.

Since it was completely dark, no one knew who was in front of them.

Yang Yuhuan subconsciously stood in front of Li Heng the first moment.

Xin Yunjing and Lu Lushuai immediately lined up in front to provide guards.

Xin Yunjing shouted loudly: "Who is leading the troops ahead? Stop immediately! If not, I will kill them without mercy!"

Hearing Xin Yunjing's words, the troops in front stopped, and then Gao Xianzhi's voice came: "Your Highness, the traitor has been eliminated!"

Hearing Gao Xianzhi's voice, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Li Heng said loudly: "General Gao, please come forward and talk."

"Here."

Only then did Gao Xianzhi rush over with his men.

Gao Xianzhi came closer, dismounted, and looked at Xin Yunjing in surprise in the light of the torch. Then he walked up to Li Heng, bowed, and said, "Your Highness is right. There was indeed an ambush. I killed half of them, captured several hundred, and a few escaped."

Li Heng nodded and asked, "Did General Gao just go to chase the fugitive?"

Gao Xianzhi bowed and said, "I was afraid that delaying the time would cause the thieves to scare Your Highness, so I marched at a very fast speed, half an hour earlier than the scheduled time. Therefore, after defeating the ambush, there was still time, so I went to Ershan Village to explore the way for Your Highness. I did not act according to the arrangement, please forgive me, Your Highness!"

When marching and fighting, one must be flexible. Besides, Gao Xianzhi did this for his own safety, and it did not cause any trouble. Therefore, Li Heng did not blame Gao Xianzhi, but said, "General Gao has done his best. He has done nothing wrong. You don't need to be polite."

"Thank you, Your Highness."

As a general, the thing he feared most was that his superiors did not trust him and liked to do things in a micromanaged way. So when Gao Xianzhi saw that Li Heng trusted him so much, he was very happy and thanked him very sincerely.

"Your Highness, I went to Ershan Village and captured a man." Gao Xianzhi said, and asked the soldiers to bring the man up.

Li Ying looked closely and found that the man was actually Dou Bai.

When Dou Bai saw Li Ying, he immediately knelt down and begged for mercy: "Your Highness, Prince Shou, please spare my life. I confess everything."

Li Ying asked, "What do you want to recruit?"

"It was the military commander Zhao Cheng who asked me to contact the Tibetan secret agents to ambush Your Highness. I was also coerced." Dou Bai cried, "Since Your Highness let me go last time, I have been grateful for Your Highness' kindness all the time. If I hadn't been coerced, I would never ambush Your Highness again."

Li Heng laughed when he heard this and asked, "Where is Zhao Cheng?"

Dou Bai said: "I don't know, he must have escaped."

"If he escapes, you can say whatever you want, right?" Li Heng shook his head and said, "But he can't escape!"

Gao Xianzhi continued, "Your Highness, a family of fifteen people did die in Ershan Village. In order to lure Your Highness here, they actually killed people!"

Li Heng had anticipated this result, but after hearing it with his own ears, he couldn't help but feel angry.

He came up to the man who reported the crime and shouted, "Hold out your hand!"

The man who reported the case was trembling with fear and stretched out both hands.

Li Heng took a look in the light of the fire and said, "There are calluses on the base of your right hand, as if they were formed by holding a weapon for a long time. There are calluses between your left middle finger and index finger, as if they were formed by holding a pen. Your left hand is for literature and your right hand is for martial arts."

“I…I…” The man who reported the case stammered and was unable to speak.

Gao Xianzhi reacted and said, "He is a soldier. Our dynasty trains soldiers to hold weapons with their right hands. He is left-handed. If he was not a soldier, there would be no calluses on the base of his right hand from holding weapons."

Li Ying sternly said to the man who reported the case, "Tell me, did you kill someone and then come to report the crime?"

The matter had been exposed, and the man who reported the case dared not hide it any longer. He kowtowed and said, "Your Highness, please spare my life. It was all General Zhao who coerced me. I am a soldier and can only obey orders."

"Okay, okay..." Li Heng laughed in anger and said, "Let's go back to the city. General Feng must have been waiting for us for a long time. Let's go meet Zhao Cheng."

(End of this chapter)