The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 987

On the morning of the Double Ninth Festival, Chengdu City is still in the sacred atmosphere of worshiping heaven, earth and ancestors, but after noon, there are earth-shattering fighting sounds from the direction of Taiji Palace. Shouts and screams.The festive atmosphere was swept away at this moment, and the people in the whole city dispersed in fear.

This is not the first time that a palace coup has occurred in Chengdu. The common people have vague expectations of what happened in the imperial city today.But the common people's thinking is actually very simple, it doesn't matter who sits on the dragon chair, as long as they live a good life. 'Weapon' looked at the door of the house vigilantly. If there were rebels breaking in, he would fight to the death. In terms of protecting the house, men in Shuzhong never hesitated.

But when the sound of killing gradually faded away, there were dark clouds, strong winds, and heavy rain followed by lightning and thunder. Although it was still daytime, the dark clouds and the torrential rain in Sichuan were like dusk.

The sudden torrential rain fell for an entire hour, but it didn't weaken. It poured like a torrent of rain towards the world, as if it wanted to use the purest water from the sky to wash away all kinds of ugliness in the world.

This time, even the tough guys in Sichuan were afraid.

After all, today is the Double Ninth Festival to worship the emperor and ancestors. On such a special day, first there will be massacres in the palace, and then there will be such a heavy rainstorm, who is not afraid?
One or two thought that today's worship was not sincere enough, which provoked the anger of the emperor and ancestors to warn them. They all threw down their 'weapons', lit all the incense candles, and then called all the women in the family, and they all ran to the shrine respectfully. I can't afford to kneel.

Compared with ordinary people, some educated people have a completely different view, thinking that this is a warning sign from heaven.

Probably because since ancient times, when the sky is very different from the usual, people will compare it with the human world. When Dong Zhongshu's theory of "interaction between heaven and man" came out, this concept was pushed to an unprecedented height.

From then on, people believed that the king had lost his morality, and heaven would send down warnings with abnormal celestial appearances. The emperor would often offer sacrifices to heaven and earth, and amnesty the world, expressing his response to the heavens and rectifying his mistakes. Resentment from the heavens, if the sky is still so abnormal, it is likely to cause instability among the people. If it happens to be the era of fatuous emperors and corrupt officials, mobs and wars are everywhere.

It’s hard to say whether the “coordination between heaven and man” exists, but Dong Zhongshu’s “coordination between heaven and man” is by no means a set of “the king loses virtue, and the sky sends warning signs”. He used this "heaven" to guard against the fear of the emperor and make him restrain himself.And the painful lesson of Qin Shihuang's unrestricted power, which triggered peasant uprisings and accelerated the subjugation of the country, became the emperor's spiritual shackles. From this point of view, Dong Zhongshu's thought of "interaction between heaven and man" is mainly to restrain the emperor who is incapable of control. I hope that the emperor will have scruples about "heaven" and will not go his own way.

However, after generations of interpretation, the "Heaven" in "Heaven-Man Interaction" refers to the "God" in the sky. As for the "Heaven" when Dong Zhongshu founded the school, it has long been forgotten by the "Heaven's Family".

Yang Tong didn't push this, and even asked Kong Yingda and other great Confucians to dig out the original intention and true meaning of the sage's study in combination with the background of the sage's creation when revising the classics. But this time, he really enjoyed the upgraded version." The benefits of "Heaven and Man Response".

Because it was rumored before that Li Shimin killed his father and brother, which made him commit the five evils of "rebellion, immorality, filial piety, disharmony, and civil strife" in the "ten evils". He is an "unforgivable" person who committed all the "ten evils".Such a person was still alive, and finally angered the heavens, so a severe warning was issued on the Double Ninth Festival, when the emperor and ancestors were sacrificed.

Some people even felt that they were in the same city as Li Shimin, whom even the heavens despised, and they would be implicated. Even if they didn't die in the war, they might be punished by the heavens.Compared with Heaven's Punishment, the Sui Army demonized by the Tang Dynasty seemed less terrifying.

Everyone has this heart, and rumors spread everywhere, and the more they spread, the more mysterious they became, and the more they spread, the more terrifying they became.And fear spread in the city like a plague. The people simply packed up their simple bags, secretly called back their husbands and sons who were soldiers in the Tang Dynasty, and then fled Chengdu together in the heavy rain. The common people fled to Qingcheng with the crowd, because many people said that the king of the mountain there loved the people like a son, and took out a lot of white rice to help the victims. An endless stream of migratory people.

Originally, it was impossible for them to leave in such a victorious way, but Dou Lukuan, who was the marshal of the city defense, ended up beheaded all over his family. Once summoned by their relatives, they secretly became deserters, and those soldiers who waited and watched also started to trigger an avalanche effect in front of this general situation, and became deserters in groups.

If this kind of turmoil continues, it will soon turn into a mass exodus of the entire city, and the next step will be for people to leave the city.

This kind of situation where there is no leader and the hearts of the army and the people are all turbulent is also the most test of the ability of civil and military officials to adapt to the situation and make decisive decisions, because now the whole city is in turmoil, and people will not listen to simple good words; Most of the soldiers of the Tang army, who were all from central Shu, ignored them at least, and stabbed to death the officials who gave the orders first, and then, under the instigation of those who contributed to the flames, caused a mutiny in the whole city and seized the city endlessly.

"Close the gate of the city, and then tell the people that the imperial court has invited Immortal Yuan Tiangang today, and he will go to each workshop to make porridge in person. As long as you eat his porridge, the whole family will live a long and safe life." Ma Sanbao's original He was responsible for ransacking the house, but when he saw the chaos in the city, he stood up and took on the important task of quelling the riots.

He knew that civil and military affairs were not good at this time, so he used Yuan Tiangang, who was quite famous among the people in central Sichuan, to make a fuss. His timely appearance and the strategy of resolving it can be said to have saved the Tang army and the Tang Dynasty.The riots were gradually contained as the soldiers of the Peking University Army ran and shouted throughout the city.

"This Ma Sanbao has some real skills." Jiang Zhen in the crowd couldn't help but praise as the riots subsided, and the leaderless soldiers were also affected by this and began to play some role.

Ma Sanbao's ability to command on the spot and adapt to changes may not be ranked high in the Sui Dynasty, but it is rare in the pseudo-Tang Dynasty with few generals.

"This man is capable of literary and martial arts. He is indeed a powerful person. Let alone He Panren, Xiang Shanzhi, Qiu Shili and others, even Li Zhongwen is a bit inferior. He is the most powerful general of Pingyang Princess Li Xiuning, and the Women's Army has at least three points. The credit is his." Said a middle-aged Taoist priest beside him.

"But no matter how powerful he is, that's all. In terms of the current situation, even if there are tens of thousands of commanders stronger than Ma Sanbao in the puppet Tang Dynasty, nothing will change." Jiang Zhen glanced at the Taoist priest beside him, He couldn't help laughing out loud, because the Taoist beside him was Yuan Tiangang who was used by Ma Sanbao. He said amusedly: "Daoist Yuan, your legend is widely spread in central and southern Sichuan. Speaking of your name, how about you?" It is known to all women and children, and people say that Yuan Xianchang has the ability to raise the dead and turn them into bones."

"Absurd, nonsense." Yuan Tiangang said with a wry smile: "I can only do some medical skills and see astrology. How can I bring the dead back to life? But this is in line with the image of immortals in their hearts. Immortals and heroes in the hearts of the world often It was perfect, and in the end, I didn’t even recognize that the person the world said was me. Even if I stand up and deny it myself, everyone will think I’m a fake and beat me to death.”

Jiang Zhen laughed loudly: "The priest, are you going to cook porridge now?"

"There's something wrong." Yuan Tiangang glared at him, turned around and left.

"Stop for me, hey, Taoist said you..." However, Yuan Tiangang wanted to leave, but couldn't. He saw Ma Sanbao rushing over with a group of people.

"Why is the general looking for me?" Yuan Tiangang asked inexplicably. Taoism established Li Yuan, who claimed to be a descendant of Lao Tzu, as the state religion as early as the beginning of Li Tang's founding of the country. I'm not afraid of Ma Sanbao making trouble.

Ma Sanbao looked Yuan Tiangang up and down, nodded and said, "It's you."

"What does the general mean?" Yuan Tiangang was at a loss.

Ma Sanbao said: "You look like a Taoist, you have the air of a fairy, you help me pretend to be the fairy head of Yuan Tiangang."

"I am Yuan Tiangang, why pretend to be?" Yuan Tiangang almost twisted his nose in anger.It's obviously the same person, but you still let Yuan Tiangang, who looks like a dog, pretend to be "Immortal Yuan Tiangang"?
The difference between a human being and a fairy is too big, isn't it?
"The pretending is quite similar, I almost believed it. It seems that you have used Yuan Xianchang's name to deceive you a lot. Since you pretend to be so dignified, it is you." Ma Sanbao smiled and said: "Bring him!"

"..." Yuan Xianchang, who was said to be able to call wind and rain and travel thousands of miles in an instant, was helplessly walked away by several soldiers with spears.

Jiang Zhen, who almost laughed when he saw it, didn't forget the business, and ordered his subordinates to send the information about what happened in the city to Yang Tong.

……

As for the imperial court, Anmin announced that he did not arrive late until dusk when the rain stopped. The announcement said: Huaian King Li Shentong used a puppet that looked exactly like Emperor Li Yuan to confuse Yuan Cong's imperial army and brazenly launched a palace coup. Seeing a conspiracy of mutiny, he resorted to tactics and finally wiped out the rebellious party. Li Shentong, Dou Lukuan and other rebellious leaders were defeated and died in battle. Discourage even one sentence.

This is because before the mutiny, Li Shentong used the opportunity of entering and leaving the palace to poison the emperor, causing the emperor to be so poisoned that he became unconscious and precarious.Afterwards, the prince summoned famous doctors from all over the world, and if he could cure the emperor's poisoning, he would give him the Duke of the country and a reward of ten thousand taels.

With regard to government affairs, Prince Li Shimin also made some adjustments, citing the emperor's unconsciousness and inability to govern, and established himself as the regent in charge of all military affairs, large and small.

Immediately, Li Shimin issued the first reward order for the king regent: He highly praised Ma Sanbao, the general of Zuo Xiaowei, who was capable of Anmin, he was awarded the post of Jingzhao Yin, and he was granted the title of Duke of Shan, who was in charge of important military and political affairs of the imperial capital, and was in charge of city defense matters.Li Daobi, Li Daoli, Li Xuansu, Du Junchuo, Qu Tushou, Qu Tuquan, Gao Xing, Gao Zhixing and others who made great contributions to the suppression of the rebellion also received reasonable awards.

Xiangguo Yuwen Shiji, who was sick at home, learned of the mutiny, cried, vomited blood and fainted, lying on the bed and fell ill.

Because of the changes in Jiangdu, Yuwen Shi and his original wife, Princess Nanyang, could not be reconciled. Even his son Yuwen Zen Master was unwilling to bear the name of the descendant of a traitor. A few years before the Guanzhong War, he fled to the Sui Army alone Daying, and then under the auspices of Yang Tong, he became a naturalized member of the Yang family and became a family member of the Sui Dynasty, breaking with the Yuwen family.

There is an insurmountable moat between the husband and wife, the hatred of the country and the family, and Yuwen Shiji does not expect his wife and children to return to his side. Under this mentality of resignation, no matter how deep the previous relationship is, it will fade away with the passage of time. But it gradually faded away. When the remarried Li Tang Shouguang county lord gave birth to his son Yuwen Puzhao and daughter Yuwen Xiuduoluo, the relationship between the husband and wife was insignificant and became a fragment of memory.So he became half of the Li clan with peace of mind, and worked hard to serve Datang.

When Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin fought for the heir apparent, he followed Li Shimin in all directions, and he was naturally regarded as a member of Li Shimin's group. Li Shimin is obviously not as good as Li Yuan. In the final analysis, he always put Li Shimin's interests under the country and Li Yuan, and supported Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng on the basis of not harming the interests of Li Yuan and Datang.

With his rich life experience, he can see through the high-sounding tragedy announced by the court at a glance.

Originally, Yuwenshi had already made sufficient mental preparations after the Xuanwu Gate incident, but when the tragedy of human relations really came, Yuwenshi found that he was not as calm as he imagined, and still felt extremely sad. Feeling sad for Li Yuan's end, but also disappointed and angry with Li Shimin, and at the same time worried about the safety of my sister Yu Wen Zhaoyi and nephew Li Yuanjia.

Yuwen Shiji didn't think about his own life and death. Although Li Shimin's character is extremely scumbag, he treats people who recognize him very generously, and he can rest assured and bold to entrust big things. No matter what I say, he is also Li Shimin's "hero" , so I am not worried that Li Shimin will kill him.

When Yuwen Shihe was thinking at a loss, Zhao Cijing, who came to visit, followed Yuwen Puzhao into the ward.

"Zhao Xiangguo, has the princess seen the Holy One?" As soon as Yuwen Shiji saw Zhao Cijing, he raised his red eyes and looked expectantly at the same red-eyed Zhao Cijing.

He heard that although Li Shimin forbade civil and military officials to disturb the poisoned Li Yuan, Princess Changsha, Princess Xiangyang, Princess Gaomi, and Princess Changguang entered the palace one after another, which gave him a glimmer of hope.

And Zhao Cijing's wife is Princess Changguang, if she can't even see Li Yuan, the problem will be clear.

"I see it, but it's not the Holy One." Zhao Cijing met Yuwen Shiji's gaze, and said sadly: "The princess said that the time their sisters stayed in the ward was only a few dozen breaths, although her sisters said that the sick bed The unconscious person is the Holy Majesty, but she is more careful and has very good eyesight, so she can tell at a glance that the person is not the Holy Majesty."

"How do you know?" Yuwen Shiji asked anxiously.

"The princess said that the forehead lines on the man's forehead are horizontal lines, while the Holy Majesty has vertical lines." Zhao Cijing told the flaw his wife found.

The forehead lines on the forehead are generally born, mostly horizontal lines, and vertical lines are relatively rare, but Li Yuan not only has forehead lines, but also the vertical lines that affect the beauty of the face. When Li Yuan was very young, his aunt Yang Guang jokingly called her "Grandma".

Yang Guang has a high status, and the children of the nobles all look at his eyes and act. His joking name made Li Yuan's nickname of "Grandma" spread among the Guanlong nobles. Others are embarrassed to study his tattoo, but his children obviously do not. With so many worries, you can look at them blatantly. If it weren't for what Princess Changguang said, Zhao Cijing would not have known that the old father-in-law's wrinkles were vertical.

"I never dreamed that Li Shimin would be so insane. He killed his brother first and then his father. Does he think that his crimes can be alleviated by not being enthroned for a while?" Hearing what Zhao Cijing said, Yuwen Shiji gave up completely and cursed bitterly .

"Not only did he kill his brother and his father." Zhao Cijing said coldly, "He also took over his concubine's mother."

"What?" Yuwen Shi was shocked, and then worried about his beautiful sister.

"Yuwen Xiangguo doesn't need to worry too much." Zhao Cijing comforted: "The princess just said that Concubine Yin De and Zhang Jieyu were sent to the East Palace..."

"Damn beast!" Yuwen Shi yelled angrily before Zhao Cijing finished speaking, "It's even worse than a beast. Just now, my father took over my mother-in-law, he..."

Yuwen Shiji coughed violently, and Zhao Cijing hurriedly beat his back, "It's not worth Xiangguo's bad health because of this kind of anger. And things may not be as you worry, Li Shimin may let Yin Defei and Zhang Jieyu take care of him." The false emperor, after all, they are the most beloved concubines of the Holy Majesty, if they take care of them nearby and say that the false emperor is the Holy Majesty, they can help Li Shimin hide some people."

"Zhao Xiangguo is right, I want to take care of my health." Yuwen Shiji nodded, feeling that it's not worth it to be angry with Li Shimin, but he couldn't listen to Zhao Cijing's later explanation.

After a while, he said, "Li Shimin has lost his morality and gave Yang Tong the best excuse and opportunity to attack Chengdu. Even if the Tang Dynasty falls, the common people will only applaud. I want to see what happens to him in the end. "

Zhao Cijing said again: "I heard that the people in the city fled to Qingcheng County one after another. Doesn't Xiangguo think it's strange?"

"You mean, Yang Tong got the news in advance." Yuwen Shiji naturally knew that the so-called rioters in Qingcheng were actually Sui soldiers. Without any actual cases to prove that the Sui Dynasty was close to the people, it was only then that the banner of releasing food to the rebellious people in central Shu was raised to attract the people to go for refuge. When the hungry victims and refugees arrived, they would give relief in the name of the Sui Dynasty. Once the people are properly settled, the image of the Sui Dynasty will be reversed immediately. With these people's propaganda, more people will go to the Sui Dynasty, thus completely hollowing out the foundation of the Tang Dynasty.

Zhao Cijing said: "It's not just that he got the news in advance! I suspect that Yang Tong knew that Li Shimin was going to launch the Xuanwumen coup, so he made such a big effort to control the Yellow River and fight corruption. The purpose is to let us relax our vigilance and misunderstand I thought the Sui Dynasty didn't have the energy to attack the Tang Dynasty, but looking back now, it was obviously a chance for Li Shimin's court coup!"

Yuwen Shiji nodded: "You're right, this is the root cause of Yang Tong's absolute advantage, but he didn't wipe out Datang in Jingzhou. He hoped that the foundation of Datang would be rotten and people's hearts would be lost, and then he would make a move. That's fine, let the dirty Tang be burned by the flames of war!"

Speaking of this, Yu Wenshi said to Zhao Cijing earnestly and earnestly: "Cijing, you are the son-in-law of the Tang Dynasty, and Yang Tong will not let you go. The current Tang Dynasty is no longer worth your life, so go away. The farther you go, the better."

"I thought so too." Zhao Cijing sighed, "When I knew the Holy Majesty was not here, my heart died. The princess and I have already decided to leave Chengdu with our children. I am worried that Yang Tong will call after he gets the news of the mutiny." , so I plan to leave tonight."

Yuwen Shi and Qi asked, "Where are you going?"

"Our husband and wife are going to find Xiaogong in Nanzhao." Zhao Cijing smiled freely: "The world is so big, there is always a place for our family!"

"That's good, I wish you a safe journey." Yuwen Shiji showed a sincere smile on his face.

"Thank you for Xiangguo's blessing." Zhao Cijing pondered for a while, and suggested: "Forgive me, Xiangguo's situation and status are more embarrassing than mine, why don't you come with us?"

"Hearing what you said, I'm also tempted." Yuwen Shiji smiled, shook his head and said, "I want to go too, but not today."

"Since Xiangguo also intends to leave, I think it's better to go together." Zhao Cijing added: "The city defense army and my old subordinates, I can let them go. If Ma Sanbao takes over the city defense tomorrow, he can't think of leaving. gone."

"My sister is still in the palace, so I can't leave it alone." Yuwen Shiji explained the difficulty, thought for a while, and said to Zhao Cijing: "Well, my little sister will leave with you tonight. I will stay Rescue the princes and princesses, no matter how many can be saved, they will be taken to Nanzhao to find you before the Sui army reaches Chengdu. What do you think?"

"Then it's settled." Zhao Ci nodded. He also thought about saving his brother-in-law and sister-in-law, but he had a feud with Li Shimin, and he couldn't even enter the palace city. How could he save people?

Yuwen Shiji is also Li Shimin's direct descendant, he has more opportunities to enter and leave the palace than him, and he is not subject to inspection. Since he is willing to take on the responsibility of saving people, it is naturally the best.

The two discussed the details, and then Zhao Cijing left.

(End of this chapter)