Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 371 The Skinny Camel

On the outskirts of Chang'an City, the moonlight illuminated a small dirt bag in the wilderness, and you could vaguely see the words "Tomb of My Late Father Li Gong Linfu" written in blood on a wooden sign in front of it.

Li Xiu, who was kneeling in front of the tomb, turned around and heard the barking of dogs in the distance. He first thought that a thin coffin would prevent wild dogs from digging out his grandfather's body. But if wild dogs don’t plow, what about others?

He then stood up and stepped forward, pulled out the wooden sign, scratched off all the writing on this side with a dagger, and then wrote "Tomb of My Ancestor" again.

The once extremely popular ministers of Shangzhu Kingdom, Jin Kingdom Duke, Taiwei, and Zhongshu Ling could only leave these four words in the end, occupying no more than a piece of loess.

After doing this, Li Xiu discovered that the two government servants who had been following him these past few days were nowhere to be found. Maybe they were lazy and fell asleep at the inn to the north?

This is a good opportunity to escape to another place and remain anonymous, so that he no longer has to be exiled to Zhenzhou and save his life.

He glanced towards the north in the direction of Chang'an City, and driven by the desire to survive, he walked towards the east, his footsteps rustling on the dead leaves on the ground.

Suddenly, Li Xiu stopped because a conversation occurred in his mind.

"If he escapes, will Xue Lang take care of him?"

"I'm responsible."

Xue Bai guaranteed that this time he would be able to take good care of himself and handle Li Linfu's burial carefully. In addition, Xue Bai also told him in private that he would definitely find a way to save the innocent family members of the Li family from the pain of exile.

If he left without saying goodbye, it would be enough to betray Xue Bai's trust. Wouldn't it mean that he had given up the hope of rescuing his family?

Although Li Xiu was not in harmony with his wife, Lu, he was very affectionate towards his children. Then I thought that if I ran away like this, I would hide and be alone for the rest of my life, what would be the fun of living.

He finally turned around and walked towards Chang'an City.

When we returned to Chang'an, it was already dawn, and the morning drums on the top of the city were ringing in all directions.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

The sound of drums entered the guest room of Xue Zhai in Xuanyangfang.

Xue Bai woke up and vaguely smelled the faint fragrance of Li Tengkong, which made him feel a little unreal.

He carefully took out his numbed hand and was about to stand up and leave the curtain, but found that the corner of his clothes was held by her.

"Are you awake?" Xue Bai asked softly.

Li Tengkong still had his eyes closed, as if he was still asleep.

But Xue Bai found that she was holding the corners of his clothes very tightly, so he asked again: "Aren't you awake?"

"Not awake."

"Are you hungry? Get up and eat something."

Li Tengkong turned sideways, shook his head, unwilling to get up, and hugged Xue Bai as if he couldn't hold him enough.

"You'd better eat some, you've lost weight recently."

"Are you kidding me? Ji Lanzi always says that I'm kidding her."

"It's not bad." Xue Bai doesn't like to say coaxing words, but occasionally he will say one or two, "I have lost weight, which makes people feel sad."

The two of them were looking at each other for a long time, but they heard Jiaonu say outside the door: "Seventeenth Mother, Shiro is here to see Xue Bai."

The morning drums had stopped for a while, and Li Xiu had walked from the city gate to Xue's house.

He waited in the front hall and was led into a guest room. He met Xue Bai and Li Tengkong holding hands and coming out of the guest room.

When Li Xiu saw it, his expression changed and he felt a little embarrassed.

His sister is the daughter of the prime minister's house. In the past, marrying Xue Bai was regarded as a second marriage, but now that the family is suffering, she has been taken over by Xue Bai.

The law of the jungle is like this in the court, which makes people helpless.

"Juro, sit down." Xue Bai raised his hand and said, "Xiaoxian needs some food for the morning, so we can eat and chat together."

I don't know whether it was because Li Xiu's mentality had become inferior, or because Xue Bai's status had improved again. Although it was just a short sentence, his momentum completely dominated the entire scene.

Li Xiu could no longer show off the airs he had when he asked Xue Bai to assist him in the Right Prime Minister's Mansion, so he complied and sat down on the stone bench.

After a while, Mian'er came over with a food box and served the meal.

Although Xue Zhai's food does not have delicacies, there are many varieties and the taste is good. Because Yan Yan is a very picky person, and because Fengwei Restaurant is her own business, she is quite demanding in this regard. At this time, the food box was opened, and there were several snacks, pastries, and a small pot of wine.

"I won't drink." Xue Bai placed the pot of wine in front of Li Xiu and said, "Shiro, please drink some."

"it is good."

Xue Bai scooped up a few more buns, handed them to Li Tengkong, and said, "How about some?"

"Ah."

Li Xiu couldn't bear to see them like this, so he turned his head slightly and drank a glass of wine to relieve the bitterness in his mouth.

"How does Shiro view Li Xianzhong's defection?" Xue Bai brought up business.

"It would be unjust to say that my grandpa conspired with other Jiedu envoys to plot rebellion. As for Li Xianzhong, he was only the deputy envoy of Jiedu. How could I conspire with him? He was obviously recruited by An Lu Mountain forced him to defect."

These were already very clear things in Xue Bai's eyes, but there was still something new in Li Xiu's words that Xue Bai noticed.

"Other Jiedushi? Who is there?"

"The total number of military governors in the border towns is only those people." Li Xiu said: "Except for Zhang Qiqiu, the military governor of Shuofang, and Han Xiulin, the remaining queen of the military governor of Hedong, these two people were recommended by Wang Zhongsi when he left office. The rest are from Longyou. Jiedushi Ge Shuhan, Hexi Jiedushi An Sishun, and Anxi Jiedushi Gao Xianzhi were all appointed by my grandfather when he was the prime minister."

"Li Linfu, Ge Shuhan, An Sishun, and Gao Xianzhi also said that they would use force to prevent Li Heng from ascending the throne?"

Li Xiu hesitated and did not answer, as if thinking whether he could trust Xue Bai.

Xue Bai was not in a hurry and urged Li Tengkong to eat more.

"An Sishun." After hesitation, Li Xiu made a decision and replied, "An Sishun has always wanted to serve as the governor of Shuofang, and he promised that he would not support Li Heng in the future. Therefore, he wanted to get rid of Zhang Qiqiu, give Shuofang to An Sishun."

"An Sishun and An Lushan are brothers. The two brothers want to control the five towns in the north. Aren't Li Linfu worried?"

"They are not brothers. An Lushan's grandma brought him to remarry An Sishun's grandpa. The relationship between them is not good." Li Xiu said, "My grandpa wanted An Sishun to lead both Hexi and Shuofang, but instead It was with the intention of containing An Lushan."

"I don't believe it." Xue Bai said.

Li Xiu was stunned.

Xue Bai said: "In my opinion, the relationship between the two brothers An Lushan and An Sishun is not that bad. They acted to deceive the entire court in order to seek the governorship of the five towns."

“How come you see?”

"intuition."

Xue Bai was not familiar with An Sishun, and there was no evidence to prove his point of view. However, judging from his understanding of An Lushan, the chubby Hu man with a pig face but a bright heart was very good at pretending and communicating with An Lushan. Liar.

Following this train of thought, he had a vague idea.

"Li Xianzhong's defection was due to the persecution of An Lushan. For this reason, Shuofang lost his deputy envoy Jiedu, and the envoy Zhang Qiqiu was also implicated. Don't you think that An Sishun and An Lushan, the brothers, have Conspiracy?"

Li Xiu said: "You mean An Lushan is helping An Sishun? If their brothers pretend to be at odds for this reason, then their intentions are too big."

"Yes."

"But no, An Lushan's murder of Ge Jie has nothing to do with An Sishun."

"Then why did he kill Ge Jie? And he happened to force Li Xianzhong to rebel?"

Li Xiu said: "An Sishun reminded me many times that An Lushan built a city and stationed troops, and what he did was more than preventing the prince from ascending the throne. It can be seen that the quarrel between his brothers is true."

Xue Bai said lightly: "You can't see what he says, you have to see how he does it."

"I can only say that you are biased against An Sishun." Li Xiu said, of course, these matters had nothing to do with him, so he asked: "Can these words clear my grandfather's grievances?"

"No." Xue Bai said, "But you can let me know how useful you are."

Li Xiu was stunned for a moment, drank another glass of wine, and said thoughtfully: "What do you want?"

"About the military governors of various towns," Xue Bai said, "I want to know as much as possible about them, how many generals they have under their command, how much food and grass they have, what their stance is, and where to go next."

At present, An Lushan is eyeing Hedong and An Sishun is eyeing Shuofang. As a member of Zhongshushe, he has no right to interfere in these matters. It is hard to say how much role Li Xiu can play, but the camel in the Right Prime Minister's Mansion is too thin to be bigger than the horse, which must be of some help.

"Why do you care about this?" Li Xiu suddenly asked.

Xue Bai said: "I am worried about the country."

Li Xiu stared at him, his eyes gradually becoming appraising.

Xue Bai noticed this look and said, "What? Don't you believe it?"

"letter."

Li Xiu hesitated and spoke several times. Finally, he whispered: "My father told me your identity..."

Xue Baizheng picked up a pigeon egg with chopsticks. When he heard this, he thought to himself that Li Linfu had indeed told Li Xiu.

At that time, Li Linfu pretended to be dementia and tested him. And he also followed the trend and deliberately responded according to the position of the emperor's grandson Li Qian, in order to make Li Linfu unpredictable and suspicious.

This was one of the reasons why he was willing to save Li Xiu. He wanted to know how much Li Xiu knew.

The round pigeon egg was clamped and put firmly into Xue Bai's mouth. He chewed it calmly and after swallowing it completely, he asked: "What is my identity?"

Li Xiu held the wine glass and lowered his eyes slightly to avoid Xue Bai's direct gaze. I recalled in my mind the words Li Linfu said when he was seriously ill.

"My father suspects that Xue Bai is the son left by the deposed prince Li Ying, but he can't remember what the situation was like back then."

After saying this, after a while, Li Linfu murmured again: "I don't even remember why I have such suspicion... Go and get some documents."

At that time, Li Xiu only thought that his grandpa was sick and confused and talking nonsense, but several questions from Xue Bai today made him suddenly think of this matter.

The yard fell silent.

Li Tengkong didn't taste good, so he put down his chopsticks, picked up the cup and drank the warm water, saying, "Brother, you should trust him. If you have anything to say, just tell him."

"You can't stay in college if you're a female."

Li Xiu sighed and said slowly: "I don't know your identity. However, before my death, I went to Huaqing Palace to meet the saint. I brought several files with me at that time. They seem to be about your life experience, right?"

Xue Bai was not afraid that these files could reveal anything, because he was not the emperor's grandson Li Qian, but these files were obviously extremely useful for him to pretend to be the emperor's grandson.

As early as when he saw them in Youxiang Mansion, he had been coveting them for a long time.

He remained calm and asked, "Is it the time when you want to taint the saint's vitality?"

"Yes."

"Then you still have a separate business in Lishan?"

"Not in other industries." Li Xiu said, "When my grandfather arrived at Lishan, he went directly to the Huaqing Palace to pay his respects. When I passed the Wangxian Bridge, I placed the things I brought with me in the Xiaoyao Hall next to me."

Xue Bai nodded and took note, realizing that Li Xiu's role for him was not only to advise him on the battle for the official position of the military governor of Bianzhen, but also to play a very important role in planning to usurp the throne in the future.

Although he promised to protect the innocent people of the Li family, there were many ways, such as letting Li Xiu be exiled to other places, or sending people to protect him in Zhenzhou. Now I decided to show more kindness and win over people's hearts.

However, when I thought of this, Dali Temple had already sent someone to take Li Xiu back to his cell.

~~

Zhongshu Menxiasheng.

Yang Qixuan finally recovered from his injuries and returned to the Yamen to take care of things.

He tidied himself up very decently and restored the demeanor of an important minister. Unfortunately, the broken teeth could no longer grow back, so he decided to speak as little as possible. Stepping into the vestibule, he first looked around, looking for Xue Bai's figure, but worried that he might actually encounter him.

"What are you looking at?"

Someone tapped him on the shoulder, and a bad smell came from his breath. He didn't need to look back to know that it was Ji Wen.

"Don't worry, Xue Bai hasn't come to see things for two or three days." Ji Wen said with a smile, "It is said that he got Ge Nu's daughter, and he must have died drunk in Rouwen Township."

Yang Qixuan is most concerned about this matter and naturally knows it.

He sent someone to keep an eye on him, and Xue Bai personally carried Li Tengkong back. There was also Li Jilan, who said she was temporarily staying at Princess Hezheng's Mansion, but in fact she followed Xue Bai home that day and never came out again.

Looking at the lewd smile on Ji Wen's face, Yang Qixuan felt a burst of heartache.

"Look at you like this." Ji Wen said, "If a man is a real man, why worry about not having a wife? I want to talk to you about something serious."

As he spoke, he put his arms around Yang Qixuan's neck, came closer, and whispered to him.

"This time, Xue Bai committed many serious crimes. As admonishing officials, we should impeach him."

"But he relies on his achievements in conquering Nanzhao. I'm afraid the saint won't touch him easily."

"Simple." Ji Wen said, "dig up Ge Nu's new grave and take a look. As long as the purple and gold court uniform is still there, it will be a serious crime of deceiving the emperor."

"This……"

Ji Wen said: "Let me tell you this way, Li Xianzhong is Li Linfu's adopted son, and he defected. This shows that Li Linfu must be treason. Xue Bai's cover for Li Linfu is also treason."

Yang Qixuan was a little worried, but it was not because of the relationship he had with Li Linfu for many years, but because he was afraid of Xue Bai. He said: "In this way, we will really set the stage to fight Xue Bai."

"He beat you in public, do you still have a way out?"

Yang Qixuan thought about it and said, "Xue Bai is treasonous? Yes, he must be treasonous to dare to beat the officials in public."

Now that he had the idea, and as a remonstrating official, he wrote quickly when he returned to his official residence and wrote a memorial to impeach Xue Bai.

After drying the ink, he soon felt embarrassed again. Today's prime ministers, Yang Guozhong and Chen Xilie, did not want to cause more trouble. How could he deliver this memorial after it was written.

However, at noon, Ji Wen came to his mansion again, asked him for the memorial, and nodded with satisfaction.

Yang Qixuan couldn't help but be curious and asked his doubts.

Ji Wen then smiled and said, "You have forgotten that Yang Guozhong and Chen Xilie are not the only people who are under Tong Zhongshu's command. There is also one person, even Xue Bai who helped him up."

Yang Qixuan was stunned and said in surprise: "He? He is also on our side?"

Ji Wen patted him on the shoulder and said, "Fu Jun is far more powerful than you expected."

~~

The next day, Xue Bai planned to put aside the many matters in his hands temporarily and go out of the city to pick up Yan Zhenqing.

This was the second time Yan Zhenqing came to Longyou, and he stayed there for more than a year. This was because a Subi tribe in Tubo wanted to rebel against Tubo and join the Tang Dynasty.

This matter was known before the Battle of Nanzhao. Now that the Battle of Nanzhao has ended, Su Pi has not made any big moves yet, but I don't know how it will progress.

Even Xue Bai didn't know much about such confidential matters and could only talk to Yan Zhenqing in private.

Xue Bai brought back the Tubo princess Na Lanzhen this time, thinking that having such a prisoner in hand might be able to help Yan Zhenqing.

On this day, before he went out, he told Du Jin to take Nalanzhen to Xue's house so that he could see her at any time after he talked with Yan Zhenqing. After that, he got on his horse and was about to go out, when he met a team of officers coming towards him.

"Xue Sheren, please come with us to Dali Temple. The temple minister would like to ask you a few words."

"What's the matter?"

"It's just a routine matter, it doesn't matter."

Xue Bai could probably guess the reason. Seeing that it was still early, Yan Zhenqing would not arrive so early. Then he nodded and went to Dali Temple.

He hasn't rescued the innocent members of the Li family yet, and it seems that he himself is about to fall into it.

Li Daosuo, Minister of Dali Temple, is a veteran minister. He had a relatively harmonious relationship with Li Linfu in the past and was reluctant to participate in various party disputes. Therefore, it is not bad to treat Xue Bai, and if you have anything to say, just say it.

"Xue Sheren, you have been impeached. As a matter of routine, Dali Temple has to examine you. I attach great importance to this case, so I personally intervened."

"Yes, thank you Li Siqing for your hard work."

"I heard that you protected the family of the rebellious minister Li Linfu..."

Li Daosui was old and lacked energy. Halfway through, he handed over the official document in his hand and said, "Xue Sheren, please read it yourself."

Xue Bai took a look and saw that it was indeed Yang Qixuan.

"Li Siqing, this is a simple matter. Yang Qixuan is jealous of me, harbors resentment, and deliberately slanders me."

Li Daosui didn't care whether he was right or wrong. He wrote down as if he was just for communication.

But in fact, this seemingly careless attitude in handling cases can sometimes make people take things lightly and lead to serious consequences.

"Jealous and deliberately slandering." Li Daosui muttered and finished writing, then asked: "The saint reduced Li Linfu's official rank and took back the posthumous gift, but Xue Sheren kept his purple and gold court uniform. How to explain this matter?"

"Does Yang Qixuan have any evidence?"

"According to the officials present, you drove them away."

"so what?"

Li Daosuo reminded: "As long as we open the coffin and conduct an autopsy, the truth of this matter will be clear."

"Open the coffin for autopsy?" Xue Bai said: "Li Linfu had a conspiracy with Li Xianzhong, and he was a veteran who served the saint for more than ten years. The saint has always been merciful. If you treat the deceased like this for a piece of court clothes, you will lose the saint's face." , Yang Qixuan's suggestion was unfaithful; moreover, Yang Qixuan had been Li Linfu's son-in-law for many years, so he just divorced his wife, and not caring about the old relationship and digging up the body was unfilial. What an unfaithful and unfilial person said is somewhat true. talk?"

After asking a few more questions, Li Daosui put down the brush in his hand.

"I will submit the results of the inquiry, but who the saint believes more is beyond my control."

"Thank you Li Siqing."

Xue Bai bowed and resigned.

After leaving Li Daosui's official residence, the front yard was the familiar front yard of Dali Temple. Through the wall, there was a whirring sound.

"Let me tell you, there is no major conspiracy. It's just that Yang Qixuan and Xue Bai are jealous."

It was Du Wulang's voice.

As soon as Du Wulang heard that Xue Bai had been taken away by Dali Temple, he rushed to rescue him immediately.

He was very familiar with the guards at Dali Temple Prison, and was good at telling these scandalous anecdotes. Whenever a yamen officer asked him, he would tell them vividly, hoping to change the direction of the case.

"Did you know? Xue Bai beat Yang Qixuan a while ago, just for women...ah? Are you out?"

Du Wulang was talking lively when he turned around and saw Xue Bai and felt relieved.

"Xue Bai is here, you can ask him if what I said is right."

Xue Bai smiled bitterly and said: "Yes, you are right, I was jealous of Yang Qixuan, so I beat him."

"Xue Sheren, I heard that you are not only jealous of one little lady, but you seem to be jealous of two?"

"That's what he said..."

In the middle of Xue Bai's words, he suddenly saw a person standing in the corridor next to him, looking over here with his hands behind his hands. It was Yan Zhenqing.

He was immediately embarrassed.

No matter how thick-skinned he was, he really couldn't say in front of his father-in-law that he was jealous of the young lady next to him or the two young ladies. He didn't know where the news came from.

"Let's disperse." Du Wulang had the foresight and quickly dispersed the crowd, "If your officers see it, they might scold you for not fulfilling your duties, so disperse."

Xue Bai walked towards Yan Zhenqing and bowed shamefully.

"I've met my father-in-law."

"Humph."

Yan Zhenqing had a straight face, snorted coldly, put his hands behind his hands and walked out.

Xue Bai followed, talking about many things after the separation, all the way to yesterday's conversation with Li Xiu. Of course, he only talked about the topic about Bian Town and hid the part about his life experience.

"With Ge Nu's death, the situation in the court has become even more chaotic." Yan Zhenqing sighed a little, then continued Xue Bai's topic: "Speaking of An Sishun, this man and Ge Shuhan served together as generals under Wang Zhongsi, and they were very close to each other. Very difficult to deal with.”

After hearing this, Xue Bai had a thought in his mind, thinking that Ge Shuhan might be able to seek An Sishun's position as Hexi Jiedushi. However, the Tang army and the Tubo army are currently fighting in Qinghai. It is not good for these power struggles to delay the border war.

Xue Bai then asked, "How is the situation in Longyou during my father-in-law's trip?"

Yan Zhenqing shook his head and said, "You don't have to ask."

Even Xue Bai didn't tell him, this matter was obviously extremely confidential. And confidentiality also means that things are progressing.

"I captured a Tibetan princess in Nanzhao. She is the daughter of Chidai Zhudan. Can it be beneficial to the situation in Tibet?"

When Yan Zhenqing heard this, he stopped involuntarily, twirling his long beard and his eyes flashing.

For the time being, he couldn't care less about Xue Bai Zhengfeng's jealousy. He asked about Nalanzhen's situation and said, "Let's talk about it in your house."

The two of them returned to Xue's house all the way.

Xue Bai took Yan Zhenqing up to the attic and looked into the courtyard. He saw Nalanzhen wearing a traditional skirt and holding a Jie drum in her hands. Next to her, Ren Mulan was holding a sword and imitating Li Twelve Niang's sword dance. , laughing and playing.

"It does look a bit like a ruler with pill beads." Yan Zhenqing said after looking at it for a while, stroking his beard.

"My father-in-law, have you ever seen a ruler with a pill bead?"

"He came to Qinghai in person. It was precisely because of his presence that the Subi tribe was ready to defect, but they did not dare to take any action."

"What about now?"

Yan Zhenqing glanced back unhurriedly, and then whispered: "Tubo Zanpu came to the front line in person, and some of his ministers behind him were naturally ready to take action. I came back this time with their envoys. "

He said this, and did not want to say too much to Xue Bai. He pointed at Na Lanzhen in the courtyard and said, "I have to take this little girl away when the time comes."

"By the way, I haven't told my father-in-law yet, but she is considered one of my students." Xue Baiyuan'er said: "She can also be regarded as my father-in-law's disciple."

Yan Zhenqing understood what he meant and said: "Don't worry, supporting her is more useful than killing her. We know how to do it."

Xue Bai thought for a while and said, "There is one more thing I would like to ask my father-in-law for help."

"Are you jealous?"

"I want to protect Li Xiu and the innocent family members of the Li family, but I'm afraid I won't be able to plead with the saint for this matter." Xue Bai said, "If the teacher needs manpower to send envoys to Tibet, how about giving Li Xiu a chance to make meritorious service? Ge Shuhan He is a person who cherishes old friendships and should be willing to protect Li Xiu."

Yan Zhenqing did not agree immediately, but asked instead: "Ge Nu had many party members back then, so no one else in the court was willing to protect him?"

"Nothing."

"Before I returned to the court, my brother Shu Han also mentioned this matter, but I didn't expect that the Li family would reach this point." Yan Zhenqing said, "That's fine, but I'm afraid the court may not agree."

"My son-in-law will take care of it," Xue Bai said.

Compared with going to Zhenzhou, if Li Xiu is temporarily sent to Longyou to resettle for a period of time, his future will be much better.

And he can also make better use of Ge Shuhan to check and balance brothers An Sishun and An Lushan.

　Please vote at the beginning of the month, thank you all! ! I just came back from the annual meeting and I’m so busy. I’ll take two days off to write my end-of-month summary~

　　

　

(End of this chapter)